Isabelle Esling interview, by C Mr White Cuatro ( a graphic designer and music talent)

1.What makes Isabelle..Isabelle? As a professional and as a person in general.
Good question! As a person, a good dose of enthusiasm, personal conviction, honesty and sometimes rage in specific situations. I try to always stay true to myself.
The same as above also applies to the professional person, of course. As a professional, I try to raise enthusiasm and interest and to share it with people. I am deep into what I am doing. I speak out my mind in any case, because I don’t say things to please people.
In general, people value that.
2.What is your profession and where do you think you stand among your competitors and or associates in your field?
I am a freelance music journalist. Along with this I am also a tutor of German and French. But let’s talk about what I like doing most, the writing thing.
Well, it is always difficult to situate myself in the business. All I can say is that I have improved my writing skills through the years and done some interesting interviews with artists such as Dirty Red ( who has known Eazy E personally) and Detroit emcee Dogmatic, a close friend of D12’s Proof…I’ve been published on some online magazines and written for Detroit’s ILL Mag too where I got the chance to interview Proof ( the interview got never published though), Purple Gang and Woof Pak…
It is really hard to emerge in this business, but I think I’ve done some good progress. I keep grinding, of course!
3.When did you decide to take on this profession and are you where you thought you’d be when you made the choice?
I decided to be a music journalist after writing an Eminem biography in 2002 ( kept in form of a manuscript till now), because I wanted my work to be known by people. But in the end, I find music journalism more interesting than authoring, because you are investigating even more. A journalist is a sort of detective, you know…but I love being a musical detective…couldn’t live without hip hop…
Actually Gavin Sheridan gave me my chance to prove my skills in 2003…
4.What drives you to wake up everyday and get out here and do what you do?
It’s the music and the determination to achieve something concrete in this field. One of my characteristics is a strong determination. I can get discouraged, I can feel disgusted, weak, I can fall, but I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
5.Who is your favorite Emcee, RnB Artist & producer?
I have a few faves. The old Eminem ( I mean what he did in the past influenced me for a great part and motivated me to achieve something in my life), the D12 emcees, Eazy E from the Cpt, Nas, Ice Cube, but I also love many underground emcees like Trick Trick or I-Mac…
I am not so much into RnB, but one name caught my attention…and it is Ron Patterson, he’s quite good at it.
As a producer, I find Denaun Porter really competent. He is so much underrated!
6.If you were to compare yourself to a successful business tycoon whom would it be and why?
It would certainly be Dr Dre…I admire his competence in beat makings and producing. He’s pretty cool too and seems to have stayed down to earth, despite his giant status.
7.What are your goals for the next 5 years and how do you plan to accomplish them?
My goals are to achieve something as a writer in the hip hop business. Either I will start my own business or I will try to get more connexions to become a well known hip hop magazine staff writer…I know I still have to define my plans more precisely, they are still in the works…In any case, I want recognition for hard years of work and I know I’ll have to sweat for it for a while…
8.Who is your favorite LOCAL DETROIT Emcee, RnB artist & producer?
Again, I could name several names such as Trick Trick ( I love his gangsta style), Dogmatic and of course Proof ( he was amazing), I like I Mac who renamed themselves I Dash, Mu, Journalist 103 and many more…but generally speaking and particularly on the Detroit scene, I like it raw and gangsta…
In non hip hop artists, I think that Monica Blaire is very talented…she deserves to be known better!
Again, I really value Mr Porter as a Detroit producer, but should i classify him as local or not?
Copyright by Isabelle Esling
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