EsMod’s Stories, Lessons & Insights

We’re looking forward to introducing you to EsMod. Check out our conversation below.

Hi EsMod, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Who are you learning from right now?
This year, my greatest teacher has been discomfort. I’ve been dedicating myself to pushing myself as far out of my comfort zone as frequently as possible because I know that that is where we learn how much drive is truly within us. When things are difficult, unfamiliar, or completely outside our range of knowledge/skill, we are faced with two options: give it a fair honest attempt or quit. When we choose to attempt, we will find that we’re faced with those two options nonstop for the rest of our lives. We always have the choice to try or quit, and frankly, one of them is significantly easier than the other. All this to say, I’ve been choosing the hard road every chance I get for the better part of 2025, and it has led me to growth and lessons that I could have never imagined, I’m thankful to myself for continuing to push myself, and grateful to the world for seeing my risks and fostering them into something beautiful.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Absolutely. My name is EsMod, I’m a rapper-violinist and community organizer currently based in Chicago, IL. I make clean music filled with affirmations, values, and positive messages to help my listeners connect with their higher purpose and pursue something greater than themselves. Outside of music, I recently ran a 22-week long community building event series to create networking opportunities, bonding moments, and spiritually enhancing takeaways for the arts community of Memphis, TN. I’m grateful to Memphis for making it a wildly successful and impactful series, and I look forward to continuing that line of work in my new home of Chicago.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part of myself that served a purpose in my early years and has since been released is the “realistic thinker” in me. I believe as a child with the financial conditions I grew up in, it was ideal for me to consider possibilities within a range of realism especially in the name of making my parents’ lives easier. However, now, as an adult, to think “realistically” to me is the equivalent of believing in limitations. I am blessed and privileged to be an able-bodied, able-minded man. If there’s anything I want in my life, I have been given all the tools to make it happen. Don’t have the money? Go earn it. Don’t have the time? Make time. There’s 24-hours in a day. I don’t know how to do it? Learn how to do it. There is truly no excuse to not have or achieve anything I desire or aspire to do. The beautiful thing about being alive is: no matter how many times I fail to achieve the things I strive for, as long as I’m breathing I get to make as many attempts at it as I want. The only way that it won’t materialize is if I die or quit. But failing is never and has never been a means-to-an-end.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Yes. I think when you’re fully submerged in a life path that requires every ounce of your being, it’s a thought that crosses everyone’s mind at some point in their path (be it a loud thought or a quiet one). However, ironically enough, I had a moment last year where I was debating hard about moving on from rap. Allow me to paint the scene: it’s September 2024, Table For One had been out for about eight months, I had just finished my first ever tour with Music Export Memphis, and they wanted us to go on a solo tour before the year ended. For those who don’t know, Table For One was my debut studio album, an album that took about five years to make. During those five years, I was performing what I had of the album at my shows. By the time the album finally hit stores, only three of the thirteen tracks were brand new. After a 14-show run post release, the album was getting old to me I didn’t want to go on another tour with what I perceived to be “old music.” I worked diligently to create a new and exciting EP to build this new tour around. However, no matter how hard I tried, I was not happy with what I was coming up with in the studio. I felt like I was hitting a wall creatively, and the pressure of a deadline were weighing very heavily on my shoulders. I grew increasingly more frustrated with every passing day, which of course only furthered my inability to create. I started to question whether being an artist full-time was a feasible career if I could not produce original material in short periods of time. However, after some time I realized that if I’m not ready then I am simply just not ready and THAT’S OKAY. Fast forward a year later, after doing some living and engaging myself creatively in many other ways, I was able to create a brand new album in only two months worth of time, and toured with it less than a month after release. It was creating this album that proved to me that not only am I on the right path, but I CAN work fast when I give myself time to have a new story to tell.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
One of my most core values in this life is that you will always get out what you put in. You don’t always get it immediately, but in time, it will always comes. Therefore, it’s important to me to always move in abundance than to move out of scarcity. Want support? Give support. Want respect? Show respect. Want love? Give love. This world is nothing more than a mirror of who we are. The more positive energy you put out, the more positive energy you receive back. I think the issue these days is that no one wants to be the person to give first. They want to “make” people earn their kindness, generosity, support, and so on. However, I do believe that you can be a generous giver in a way that is not disrespecting yourself. It’s all about finding that balance, letting go of the social fears that society shoves down our throats, and treating our community members with love in a way that encourages them to do the same. If everyone is scared to love first, then we will never get the chance to see how beautiful our neighborhoods, cities, and more could be. However, the counter to this only takes one brave person. Then two brave people, then three, and soon enough, everyone will be giving to each other so endlessly that they’ll forget 1: Who started it, and 2: Why they were afraid to before.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
Yes, 1000%. If I’m not going to give something my all, why pick it up in the first place? The fun thing about being an artist is that everyone measure their success in this field very differently from one another. For example, some people measure their success on monetary returns, while others may place their evaluations on social response such as likes, follower count, shares, fame, and so on. I measure my success as an artist purely based off of completion. Did I start a project and see it through the end? Did I give it my all and didn’t cut corners or compromise my work for any reason? Yes? Then it’s a success. Anything that I receive after that is purely a bonus. A nice bonus, but a bonus nonetheless. I place my measure of success here because it guarantees that I never rush my creations or create something that I am not in alignment with for the sake of some kind of physical or worldly return. Why? Because those returns are temporary, but the art is forever. In time, those rewards will deplete; people will move on and stop praising that body of work, they will stop buying it, the money you get from it will eventually be gone as well. But the satisfying thing that never goes away is looking back on that creation years and years later and not saying “dang, I wish I would have taken my time to do this right,” or saying “man, I really wish I didn’t put that out.”

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Image Credits
Mohamed Abdo, Semir Ahmed, Daniel Martinez-Miranda, Kerry Vaughan, Chloe Stanley, Bryce Owens

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