musician
Vince Esquire is a musician/ producer out of Hawaii, who has been
involved in many genres of music but currently chooses to hang around Hip Hop
(as a producer). In his early years, he devoted his time to the guitar which
lead to him playing with many different musicians. His Blues/Rock trio called
the Vince Esquire Band, opened up for such legendary acts as Willie Nelson,
Aerosmith, Los Lobos, and the Allman Brothers. Vince Esquire also collaborated
in Gregg Allman's newest album which was up for a Grammy in the Blues category.
He continues to make music his life and it is through this drive that has opened up many doors for him in his music career. He is a true testament to hard work and love equating to happiness. He has taken his love and life and turned it into success at such a young age. His switch to Hip Hop and works in so many different genres also shows the versatility that he possesses in music, which will probably equal a very successful career in the music industry.
It was through his father's music career's success that made him walk down the same line and make a life out of his love for music. He seems to have a good grasp on what he wants and where he wants to take himself. Look out for RawkSolid Productions and the many things that are to come out of their studio!
The Interview...
How did music first catch your interest to the point
where you were like, yeah that is what I want to do with my life?
"My
father was a professional musician when I was a kid. Was and still is one of
the best sax players I've ever heard. I was around all kinds of music my whole
life, so I always had a feeling I'd be in it somehow. The turning point was
when I was 15 and heard Stevie Ray Vaughan play guitar on TV...I knew then I
wanted to do the same thing, so my parents got me a guitar and I devoted all my
time to it."
How does music effect your life?
"Music is my life. It's what I've always done for a
living."
What is it about music that really speaks to you?
"Really it's how it moves and affects people's mood and
lives."
What kind of music have you been a part of genre-wise?
"Most
of my musical journey has been as a guitarist in the Blues/Rock world, but I've
always loved Hip Hop and as a producer, I love makin albums of all genres, but
personally I love workin on Hip Hop."
Which genre really has your heart and soul?
"I'd have to say both Blues and Hip Hop."
What got you into the guitar and what genre is your
favorite genre to play?
"Listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan made me want to play
guitar. I love playing Blues and Rock n Roll...but I've played everything from
Jazz to Latin music."
As a musician, who are some of your biggest
influences?
"I'd have to say my biggest influence as a musician is
probably Stevie Wonder. He never stuck to one genre and has hits in all of
them."
How long have you been doing Hip Hop and what made you
get into it?
"I've loved Hip Hop ever since I first heard Dr. Dre's
original The Chronic album back in my
early teens. Then I got Eminem's Slim Shady LP and I was hooked. Really I've
only been doin' Hip Hop for a couple of years after I went through a knee
surgery in 2011, and was immobile for a few months...GarageBand became my best
friend and I got the hang of it quickly. That plus the encouragement of some
emcee friends I have, I knew pretty quickly I had a knack for it. I had been
producing albums of other sorts for over a decade previously, and was able to
transfer a lot of that experience and knowledge to Hip Hop."
Who are some of the Hip Hop producers that you really
admire?
"My biggest influence as a Hip Hop producer is by far
Scott Storch. He also came from a very heavy musical background as a pianist,
and I always felt like I could relate to that as a guitarist. His tracks are
always very full of musically brilliant ideas and he performs most, if not all
the instrumentation himself...and I always strive to do the same. Dr. Dre of
course is another as well as J. Dilla and ANT from Rhymesayers. I love makin'
that old skool boom bap Hip Hop just as much as I do the club bangers. We pride
ourselves on being as versatile as possible."
You work for and are a co-owner
of RaWkSoLiD Productions, how did this all come about?
"My partner (mix and mastering specialist) Don Lopez
and I had been makin' music together for years...ever since I was 14 years old.
He was the bassist in my Blues/Rock trio for a few years and we always had a real
tight musical connection, so when I started the venture of producing
instrumental music, I couldn't think of anyone more appropriate to bring
onboard. Once we both saw we had some validity to our product in the form of
consumer interest, we decided to go ahead and start an LLC and try to pursue it
as much as we could. With the help of a personal investor who believed in our
mission, we were able to get RawkSolid productions off the ground."
What is RaWkSoLiD Productions trying to
accomplish with its involvement in the music industry?
"Really, first and foremost, our mission is to try and
bring real musicianship back to Hip Hop. We feel our many years of being live
and studio musicians gives us some advantages. We try to inspire the artists
who use our material to their fullest potential. We are also in the market to
place our music in various forms of media outlets...movies, TV, video games,
scores, soundtracks...all those kinds of things...not just for Hip Hop artists."
What are some of the projects
that RaWkSoLiD Productions has come out with in the past?
"Up to this point we have put out several records in
different genres...everything from Blues/Rock to Acoustic Folk, we even had a
contemporary Hawaiian music album that made the final nomination ballot for the
Hoku awards (Hawaii's equivalent to the Grammy awards) and was the only
unsigned album to gain a final nomination (those are just a few of the
accomplishments we are proud of)."
What are some of the projects that you guys are
looking forward to releasing in the future?
"We produce several talented Hip Hop and R&B acts
who will be dropping new albums in the next few months so stay tuned for those! We will also soon be dropping a couple of instrumental
mixtapes, 1 of all underground style boom bap beats and the other all club
style bangers. We're involved in quite a few projects at the moment."
What links would you like to showcase?
"We
are about to launch our very own distribution website at www.rawksolidbeats.com and
it should be up and fully functional in a couple of weeks."
He's a producer to go to if you are looking for a fresh producer to work with that is going to work hard for you to come out with the best product that you could hope to blueprint (imagine).
Here is his FB page link that has all the recent up to date links that Vince Esquire would like to share or if you want to contact him to work with him:
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