With 10 albums and EP's, various of international collaborations, and over 15 years in the music industry, Los Angeles emcee, Ethemadassassin, is the physical embodiment of dedication, perseverance, independent artistry and hustle an artist must have to succeed. His debut was in 2004 as a solo artist with his album “Proverbs”, Ethemadassassin followed up with “Tomorrow Never Comes” in 2008 and “Soul On Fire” in 2013. All in which he has executively produced. Subsequent releases, festival performances, and networking served him justice!
Ethemadassassin had an eventful 2018, dropping 2 EPs, (“Motivations” with Luse Kanz, produced by THE WDSMN, “Bear Handz: Magmatic” produced by QuakeMobb) and his 4th solo album (“Bear Handz 2: Bear Market” produced by Nazar). But that didn’t stop this prospering artist yet! Ethemadassassin started 2019 off with a super bang, releasing his 5th solo album, “Bear Handz 3: Animal House,” produced by ShortFuZe
With this impressive track record, we had to check out his music and see if the work match the experience as we expect, and boy were we right!
His single “Bear Handz” off his album “Bear Handz 3: Animal House” was the first song we listened to from this upcoming star, and we were highly captivated by his classic rap style. He had a raw, old-school, and gritty style that reminded me significantly of the rappers from the golden area of timeless rap. Ethemadassassin perfectly transitions in today’s generation and current lovers of hip-hop due to his undeniable way of delivering banging heat. The beat slapped, the delivery was intense, and the lyrics were bold, and unapologetic! What other reason do you need to convince you that this song is a hit? However, a big believer in “let the work speak for itself” I’m sure this song could explain to you all more than I ever could! See it for yourself!
Listen to "Bear Handz" here and get to know Ethemadassassin in our interview below!
Welcome to BuzzMusic Ethemadassassin! What made you begin rapping? Was rhyming something natural to you?
Thank you for having me. I began rapping because my mom couldn't afford turntables. when I was growing up, I thought the dj was the coolest person on the stage. I was stuck on how they manipulated the music with their hands and I thought they looked fly doing the turntable tricks. so that's what i wanted to be....until mom said, "you know we can't afford that," and I was dropped back into my reality. I was still drawn to the music, and I had to put my hands in it somehow...so, at around 12 years old I started freestyling into the tape recorder on my radio. over time, that developed into me writing my own rhymes and that developed into writing songs. I think it was natural for me, as I've always loved reading and writing and I've always had a way with words. Writing assignments came easy to me in school, so creative writing for myself was super easy and fun. And this became even easier once i started writing about the things i actually saw and did instead of trying to imagine shit all the time. I have a horrible imagination.
How does your recent releases differentiate itself from your early releases in 2008, and 2004? Any major difference?
There's definitely a major difference. Those earlier releases i gave more of a balance of thought whereas now my most recent releases are strictly from the more animalistic side of my personality, which is something i never explored as an artist before. "Proverbs" and "Tomorrow Never Comes" both came from a street perspective, but they were more well rounded in display of who I am as a person. A friend of mine told me the bars on those projects were like street scripture, real life lessons. I wrote about highs and lows and good and bad times and the joys that can come out of street life and the overwhelming pains and losses you will experience if you choose that path. I bragged, talked my shit, but i took my lumps too. My more recent projects, the "Bear Handz" series, is just me letting my nuts hang on some gettin it out the mud shit...with my "bare/bear" hands. It's not message driven like my first albums. These are me just having fun writing the illest shit i possibly can to whatever beat I'm on. I had a lot to say on those first albums, so my delivery was more rapid-fire. For these newer joints, I've slowed it down some because I realized I was rapping past people's ears. I want people to really hear what I'm writing because I put a lot of thought into what I do. I also say my choices in production are slightly different. my older projects had a lot more soul samples and loops as that was the prevalent sound of those times. But now that boombap has made a resurgence of sorts in some arenas, my sounds are more like updated versions of boombap, but with updated snares and drums, with some soul mixed in it...but it's all hard shit at the end of the day.
What’s the major theme behind the album “Bear Handz 3: Animal House” ?
There's no real major theme to the music. it's really more about the fact this project has the most guests than anything i've done in the past. I don't have a lot of features on my projects, not on purpose but that's just how some things work out. Still, I figured all the artists I featured are animals in the booth, and it takes a real animal to get near a bear, so i just took that idea as the basis behind the project's existence: its a house full of animals, an animal...house.
Out of all your tracks on this album, which song do you believe best reflect the album’s theme and why?
I think the track, "Bear Handz," best reflect's the theme of the project. Yes, the song "Animal House," does have features and is the title track of the project, but "Bear Handz" is more a title track for all the projects and it defines why "Bear Handz" even exists. Without the "bear," there's no "animal house."
What’s next for you?
Right now, i'm working on the next Bear Handz project, "Bear Handz: Gram Newton," produced by Akthentik. So that's coming out in about a month. I'm also working on two other projects at the moment. The first one is a joint EP with Diar Lansky, who is also helming the production on that. The second is an EP with Gav Beats. I'm also in the planning stages of shooting my next video, "Soldier's Field." BZ Filmz, who did my "Bear Handz" video is also doing "Soldier's Field." I'm looking to have that out sometime in July. So far as shows, just stay posted to my IG or my FB or my twitter and you'll have the latest show info....depending on when this article drops, my next scheduled performance is in Cannes, France, on June 7th at Sun7.
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