Diandra Interviews Esparo: Get Rich Or Die Tryin

Fun, thoughtful, and determined, Esparo’s music is destined to light up a party, but that is only because so is he! He is that guy who would, immediately, include you in the group or whatever new party you were trying to join. Thus, I was not surprised that he dedicated his music project to a young Black man, named Jagger Freeman, connected to the “friendly fire” incident, (meaning an officer killed a fellow officer), in Queens, New York last year. I am also not surprised that he would be the guy to defend the honor of Bow Wow’s Hip Hop influence. When it comes to being open, you cannot beat Esparo. 

Diandra: How are you during these times? 

Esparo: I’m cool. Trying to stay focused, and take this time to go hard on the music and love myself before I love anyone else. I took this corona time to invest in my myself, my body, and mind. 

Diandra: Anything you learned? 

Esparo: I learned that I am a procrastinator. I think, before, I let the work overwhelm me, and I could have put in the time to do what I’m doing now. But, also, I’ve learned that I choose family above everything else like, I will always put in the family time, and I am trying to be more financially conservative.  Right now, nothing is guaranteed. So, all the money is going to bills and the music. 
SDR (Stop, Drop, Roll)

Diandra: You did your own music video. Have you seen, in this time, how powerful and independent you are creatively? 

Esparo: Definitely! Definitely! The time that I have to be creative has shown me what a little bit of time, going into it, makes things better: my engagements and streaming and views. More time has been more effective. 

Diandra: How do you feel about the protests? 

Esparo: I feel great about it. I feel it is refreshing. I have never seen anything like this. So I was born knowing and learning about the Civil Rights marching and Rodney King and what happened in California. I was born in the 90’s, you lived by what you were taught, but, now, it just takes a click. There are ten year olds with iPhones and when, you get the phone in your hand, you live and you learn by influence. So there are caucasian kids that are learning that their black friends can grow to live a very different life than they do and interact differently with the system than they do; they can be killed by police because they are black.

It has gone global. There are people in China and Japan marching for Black Lives Matters. People are sharing and posting. I went to two protests, and reached out to the Queens community activists and said that, “Anything they need to make my people better, I am here.” There are a lot of rappers that are like, “This is my city!” but they forget or don’t reach out to their community to make it better. I am really sorry for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but I believe everything happens for a reason. If these protests are what brings the changes then I’m cool with what is happening. I mean I have white friends that have never talked about or even interacted with police, but are talking about this. But I won’t feel good until these changes are on paper. We need to have people in power and have these changes written down. 
Esparo – Talkin’ Bout Ft. Lil Durk (Official Video) [Lost Footage]

Diandra: What was your favorite, childhood memory with music? 

Esparo: I loved learning music from my family. My uncle collects CDs, and, when I was growing up, I didn’t really have toys, I had CDs. I had toys and my parents worked to get me everything I want, but that was what was accessible. So I am ten years old, and I was playing iPods and Walkmans and CDs. I had all the new DMX, Ruff Ryders, Usher, Jadakiss, and Jay-Z.  I loved it. I used to write down my first album tracklist, and showed it to Richardine, and said, “Look, I’m going to have Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z.” I wasn’t a cartoon-watcher. I was watching BET and wrestling, which had music, too. My family, we may not be the best family in the world, but we have unity. We stick together. I kind of built this alter-ego, Jack Esparo like Jack Sparrow, and he’s got his family’s back.

Diandra: Was there any album that you really tore up? 

Esparo: Get Rich or Die Tryin. When that came out, it was like, “Oh MY GOD! What is this!” I want to be this. I want to get a hummer. I was looking, at 7 years old, how to buy a car.  I want to get a tank top. I wanted a spinning chain. When he came upside down, in the video, “Go shorty! It’s ya birthday!” I lost my mind. That one set my mind on what I want in life. 50 Cent, probably, influenced me the most. Besides him, it was Chris Brown and Bow Wow, because I love to dance. 

CUE HIS BOW WOW APPRECIATION MOMENT! 

Rappers, nowadays, may not be man enough to say they liked Bow Wow, but he wrote the blueprint for what all us guys wanted to do: the Chris Browns and Omarions. Back then, everyone loved Bow Wow. He was poppin. He was packing out stadiums at 16 and had all the girls. When you were ten years old, you can’t tell me you wanted to be Jay Z. Bow Wow was a sensation. You wanted to be him. I had posters of him and tried to get tickets for him and tried to meet him. Then, Soulja Boy came in with Youtube and MySpace and the game changed. I am a student and I watched how the game change. I watched the whole conversion from CDS to mp3s. I remember back when CDs had commercials. I know what was hot, and, back then, 50 Cent and Bow Wow were hot. They had influence back then. 
Baked Ziti Feat. Quizz & Bakem$

Me: #FACTS

Diandra: What does success mean to you? 

Esparo: Kind of a tough question right there! It would, probably, be a sold out tour. I just want my chance. My dream is not to be the most successful artist and go triple platinum. I just want to be a successful recoding artist and have a packed out show, and I see that I am really connecting with people and they are feeling my music. It is not till then that I will see I am really having my effect on the world. I won’t feel I made it until I have my family set up and that I have set up a scholarship for kids to school. There are so many moments, but that one is the one to know I made it. 

For More Information On Esparo Click Here.
Esparo – Talkin’ Bout Ft. Lil Durk (Official Video) [Lost Footage]