Eto’s most recent release, Eto Brigante.
Hailing from Hell’s Roof, the local name for Rochester’s north side, Eto has been making the kind of rugged, raw hip-hop that has always been synonymous with New York. However, the new cultural and musical standard-bearers are not coming from New York City, but upstate New York. For the better part of two decades, Eto has helped lay the foundation for cities like Buffalo and Rochester to control the contemporary hip-hop landscape.
The following interview has been lightly edited.
What are your current influences?
Right now, finding a way to make some legit money, stay alive, and make it all work in the digital era. The fact that the rap market is back wanting New York-style hip-hop is a huge influence. The South kind of threw a dent into everything, but New York is back. For me, that means I’m not changing my sound and just sticking to my guns, never compromising and staying hungry.
What are some of our all-time influences?
My family. I grew up in a musical household. My uncle runs the Southside Orchestra, and they’ve traveled the world and played with the likes of Marc Anthony. But my main influence, as far as rap that got me on the shit I’m on, is Nas. Also, Mobb Deep and that Queensbridge sound, period. When I heard them strings, the piano, or that bass and that dark sound, that influenced me, and I maintain that sound to this day.
I remember I couldn’t get the Illmatic tape because it had the Parental Advisory sticker on it. So I bought it bootleg; you used to be able to get three tapes for $10. I had a Walkman, and that’s when I got Illmatic, it was a bootleg, but I got it.
What was Rochester’s hip-hop scene like when you were coming up?
It was crazy, the local scene. We were all doing it, and the local scene was even bigger than because we didn’t have the internet. We had the streets, you know, so everybody was hip to it, and everybody was driving around spinning our stuff. It was crazy; we had the town going nuts.
What’s the most overrated?
It’s the hip-pop: The now, the sound on the radio, the commercial influences in the music. It’s a bunch of nonsense. It’s dramatically overrated.
What’s the most underrated?
What’s underrated? It’s us: The hip-hop heads, the underground, the voiceless. But all that shit’s about the change. And we’re coming, and we’re getting heard. They’re catching on all over the world, all over the globe.
What are you excited about right now?
Growth, learning the business, working with the likes of The Alchemist, Large Professor, DJ Muggs. I plan on doing some more with those guys. Most importantly, the growth, man, the traction, and the fans. So it’s growing, it’s growing, and growing. I’m very excited about the people getting familiar, you know.
What’s next for you?
Bunch of things, man. I’ve got multiple projects coming. I’m planning on doing more with more artists. I’m trying to make it a point to produce a little more and work with other artists to get some placements and stuff like that.
Bonus Question: Why do you think some of the best hip-hop to come out in the last five years or so have come from smaller cities like Rochester, NY?
It’s all about the voiceless, man. We’re hungry, and they’re listening now. They weren’t talking about us, but now they are. It’s coming: Rochester, New York, Buffalo, upstate New York. Period. It’s coming. It’s been busy, and we work.
And the internet. They can hear us now thanks to the internet. We would have been on the road because that’s what we were doing before this, actually driving out and hustling. But the internet took over, and being digital made it convenient for us to make some money.
