Esham Albums (13)
'Sacrificial Lambz'
Release Date 8/26/2008
Tracks 27
Label AKNU Media
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What The Critics Say
Esham's long and winding career took another twist in 2002, when he joined forces with Insane Clown Posse, another underground hardcore rap act from Detroit heavily overshadowed by the wildfire success of Eminem. The mutually beneficial partnership began with an excellent Esham best-of, Acid Rain, and a year later came Repentance, the veteran rapper/producer's first full-length for ICP's label, Psychopathic. It's not a drastically different album from the ones Esham had been making in previous years, for better or worse -- an album chock-full of wildly eclectic songs characterized by slightly awkward structures, far left-field beats, and dark, dark spoken-rapped rhymes. As usual, there are a few songs where everything comes together perfectly ("Bang," "Woo Woo Woo Woo," "Pay," "Detroit") and a few that come together less than perfectly, as well as a number of interesting novelties: "Back in da Day," an oral history of the Detroit scene with a lot of name-dropping; "Ex-Girlfriend," a disturbing murder fantasy; "Boom!," a blastbeat-driven production; "Boss Up," a pop-culture lyrical freakshow that references such unlikely characters as Michael Jackson and Christina Aguilera; "No War," an Iraq War II-era musing; and "All of My Life," a totally unexpected R&B duet that concludes the album on a really impressive (yet definitely questionable) note. There are only a couple ICP collabos, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you feel about those clowns, so Repentance still ends up playing like an Esham album. It should therefore satisfy longtime fans, particularly those of his latter-day work rather than his early rap-metal style, yet at the same time probably won't win over anyone who didn't care for him in the first place. If you want to get particular, Repentance is a small step forward for Esham. He seems very confident here, comfortable with himself as an artist regardless of his Eminem issues, and when he pulls everything together, like on "Woo Woo Woo Woo" especially, he makes some of the best music of his long, fruitful, yet largely unacknowledged career. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
If there was ever a moment in time when Esham seemed positioned to break out of the Midwest and expand his small cult audience, the summer of 2001 stood as that golden moment. Primarily thanks to Eminem's enormous success the year before and the substantial hype surrounding D-12, many were suddenly eyeing the Motor City as a potential hotspot for dysfunctional rap artists. And if the public wanted dysfunctional artists, Esham certainly fit the bill. Furthermore, Overcore -- Esham's label, led by producer Santos -- beefed up its reputation by releasing albums by the infamous Kool Keith and the Dayton Family before dropping Tongues, in hopes of building up as much anticipation as possible. Yet if everyone was looking at Tongues as the album that would enable Esham to cross over to mainstream success, they were foolish. Tongues is too far out of the ordinary to cross over -- creative, yes, but also odd. First of all, it's filled to the brim with 24 songs and no interludes, meaning that few songs could clock over three minutes. The countless songs segue into one another with surprising ease, making the album seem like an extended medley. Secondly, the production style varies considerably from song to song. Esham and Santos' beats are dense, lo-fi, and often characterized by an unfamiliar combination of synthesizers, guitars, and drum programming. In terms of songwriting, few of the songs, given their brevity, follow a linear verse-chorus-verse template. There are a handful of standout songs with hooks, but a good majority of the songs are experiments that are often awkward. Finally, Esham's rhymes find him returning to his psychotic early-'90s roots, the sort of insane behavior that scares most people. In the end, while Tongues is no doubt Esham's most labored and ambitious album to date, it's also a challenging album that is accessible only in spots. There are career highlights such as his collaborations with Keith on "All Night Everyday" and the Dayton Family on "Fuck a Lover" -- along with "God," "Everyone," and "So Selfish," three other great moments. Unfortunately, there are a number of rough areas on the album as well, particularly the first few songs. But at least, even if Esham is forever damned to underground status, he's incorporating an impressive degree of creativity and courage; very few rap artists are capable of crafting an album this dense and this labored, even if it is purposefully inaccessible. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
As his final solo album of the 1990s, Esham's Mail Dominance finds few traces of the morbid themes that populated the rapper's early-'90s work. At this point in his career, the Detroit artist opted for a more respectable route, rapping more about himself and why he's so great than the trademark horror tales that made albums such as Judgement Day and Kill the Fetus such cult favorites. So, in a way, it's sad to see Esham trade in his once inaccessible qualities for a much more palatable approach (it's debatable whether or not this constitutes "selling out"). Yet it's also nice, in a way, to see him rely on his rhyming skills and production rather than his often novelty tactics of the past. On songs such as "Oucha Atmosphere" and "Twerk Yo Body," Esham's skills are blatantly apparent; though he may not be nearly as commercially successful as the majority of 1990s rappers, he's unquestionably one of the best in terms of delivery and flow. Unfortunately, on Mail Dominance it's not his delivery or flow that seems questionable but rather his lyrics and the production. When not rapping about nihilistic themes, Esham struggles to find engaging lyrics; here he's best when he raps indecipherably. In terms of production, Santos collaborates with Esham for this album, bringing plenty of new ideas, some which work and many that don't; similarly, the beats are a far departure from the grimy samples of his early-'90s work. Yet for as much as this album distinctively feels like Esham consciously not trying to make an Esham album, it's hard not to favor his more perverse moments, even if he's at the top of his skills here -- it sounds as if he's changing styles just to change. Because of this Mail Dominance comes off sounding quite experimental, a sort of test to see if Esham's ventures into respectability seem pragmatic. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
'Bruce Wayne: Gotham City 1987'
Release Date 1/1/1997
Tracks 21
Label Reel Life Productions
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What The Critics Say
Five years after his double-disc ode to morbidity, Judgment Day, Esham's Bruce Wayne: Gotham City 1987 album finds him distancing himself fairly far from the death-obsessed themes of his early work. Instead, Esham takes a stab at conceptualization, casting himself as Bruce Wayne. It's a refreshing change for the prolific Detroit rapper, and it's no doubt an intriguing venture; however, the album doesn't fully realize its potential. Instead of indulging in the theatrics that made Judgment Day -- even with its sincerely perverse themes and admittedly juvenile slant -- so utterly fascinating, Esham spends too much time here posing in traditional rap clichés, rapping about "how it's time to make another million" on the opening track, "Comerica." It's sad to see Esham, a truly uncompromising underground rapper, turn into what he presented an alternative to. Luckily, his production is still signature, and his role-playing does make for an interesting album, particularly on the second half of the album. This is definitely one of Esham's better albums, but it's hard to get over the fact that it never realizes its potential as a wonderful play on Detroit as Gotham City and himself as Bruce Wayne. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
'Dead Flowerz'
Release Date 1/1/1996
Tracks 23
Label Reel Life Productions
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What The Critics Say
Dead Flowerz finds the prolific Detroit rapper Esham honing his self-described acid rap style, leaving behind many of his more disturbing lyrical themes in favor of more traditional themes. Many who have come to expect the usual shocks will loathe his maturation, just as those once turned off by his outrageous need to be overtly perverse may finally manage to stomach his music. Either way, look at this album as the turning point. Assuming this, it should come as no surprise that his production sound has evolved beyond gritty, lo-fi, sample-based beats in favor of a polished sound. Still, there is enough sleaze on this album to distance this album from any other late-'90s rappers, so even if Esham does clean up his act here, it's still far too outrageous for mainstream audiences. As he continued to evolve his cultist fan base, certain compromises had to be made involving how far he could take his exploitation, and this album is proof of what compromises were made. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
'Closed Casket'
Release Date 10/25/1994
Tracks 21
Label Reel Life Productions
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What The Critics Say
Closed Casket finds Esham indulging in his arguably theatrical, undoubtedly harsh fascination with morbidity one last time before moving away from blatant death themes on his following albums: Dead Flowerz, Bruce Wayne: Gotham City 1987, and Mail Dominance. Since this album follows some rather outrageous efforts, including the visually disturbing cover to the Maggot Brain Theory EP and the evil themes of Judgment Day, most fans taking a chronological approach to his catalog should be fairly numb to Esham's exploitative shock attempts. Yet if this is one of your first experiences with Esham the Unholy, this album should pack a punch with its dark nature. Either way, the production improves upon past albums, not as reliant on samples and obviously more crafted, but, unfortunately, not much else has changed. At this point in his career, after the cult success of his double-disc album Judgment Day, Esham seemed a little of unsure where to head creatively, recycling himself in an effort to deliver what fans wanted: more malicious fascinations with perverse themes. In the end, he delivers on his promise with Closed Casket, even if it seems a bit derived. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
'KKKill the Fetus'
Release Date 6/16/1993
Tracks 23
Label Reel Life Productions
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What The Critics Say
As the follow-up to his as-disturbing-as-possible Judgement Day double album, Kill the Fetus isn't too much of a divergence, still finding Esham practicing his morbid rapping and his grimey production. Here, he manages to cram 23 songs onto the album by keeping the songs short; it ends up being an effective strategy. First of all, it allows him to cover more subject matter, with each song introducing new themes (whether you enjoy his lyrics or not, you can't deny his strengths as a storyteller here). Secondly, his songs function better short rather than long, given his knack for using samples and gimmicky lyrics. So, in the end, Esham covers a lot of ground here, both in terms of rapping and in terms of production. Again, it's debatable which of the two is his strength. At this point in his career, his rapping has already reached near-peak levels, and his production shows a continued path towards an inventiveness. Kill the Fetus simply repeats what Esham had done on Judgement Day, trimming it down to one album and tightening his songwriting; following this release, he would begin to experiment a bit rather than again repeat himself. Never again would Esham be so gritty. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide
