Florida rapper Dredloc Esco has three albums under his belt including Paycation, Cut 2 Deep with Yo Simi, and Color Blind Chopped Not Slopped with OG Ron C. Esco also recently released visuals for his single “Addresses” featuring Cotton Eye Joe (watch on Youtube). His most recent single “24” comes on the heels of Dredloc’s previous single “See Me Ballin” (watch the official lyric video on Youtube). “24” is out now on BigBuc Entertainment.
What’s the meaning behind your name?
My dog Ed Rowe from my hood started calling me Dred and I got the name Dred real big in the Madden world. I used to be one of the top players in the country. I was on the first ever Madden nationwide show on ESPN called Madden Nation – if y’all wanna look it up on YouTube it’s Madden Nation Season 1 – so when I started up my rap career that’s when I put a lil spice and thought on my name. I just wanted to be different, so here it is: Dredloc Esco. The ‘Esco’ stands for a leader or boss because that what I’ve always been in life.
“See Me Ballin” seems like a personal song. What inspired you to write it and what was that process like?
I wrote “See Me Ballin” for all the successful people who makes it look easy in life but a lot of people don’t know everything that glitters ain’t gold, which means you can think someone’s balling but really deep inside, the road it took them to get to that point was super hard and stressful. And instead of hating just because you’re not successful yet you should pray for them and wish them better because if you work hard and put your mind to it you’re gonna be in the same position in due time.
What can you tell us about coming up in St. Petersburg, Florida?
It was ruff and fun at the same time. I come from paradise. This city is surrounded by water and beautiful beaches, but when you get to where I come from, the south side of St. Pete – Harbordale to be exact – it’s a whole different situation; a lot of hood activities going on and a lot of money to be made, butyo u gotta keep your eyes open and watch your surroundings because they’re always plotting and watching.
What’s the biggest lesson you can share for other indie artists trying to make it?
It’s very hard to make it so don’t get down on yourself or give up. Just stay consistent, stay working hard until you build a solid team that wants to see you win. It’s millions of independent artists out here trying to make it so in order to skip the line to the front you gotta out-work everyone and stand out and you need real deal marketing strategies, not just someone putting up fake numbers making your platforms look good that don’t sell concert tickets or merch for real.
What was your biggest lesson of 2023?
My biggest lesson in this music so far is just trying to find real deal marketing. I done wasted so much money on people telling me they can get me real fans and everything is organic and it’s not. This game is very frustrating and if you’re not strong headed you will give. Especially if you wasted the money I did, it will drain you and bring u down fasho. So artists out here: if you got real deal marketing and you know you’re gaining real fans and you’re gaining momentum, don’t take that for granted.
Follow Dredloc Esco:
Instagram | Youtube | Facebook | Spotify | Twitter | dredlocesco.com
