A couple weeks ago I interviewed House Shoes, the DJ and producer that has played a tremendous role in Detroit Hip Hop for nearly 20 years.  House Shoes is known the world over as Detroit’s Hip Hop ambassador and has worked painstakingly hard to promote the city and the music of Detroit.  “Detroit Hip Hop is definitely the most influential and loved ‘genre’ within the genre,” he told me confidently via phone in Los Angeles.  “We’ve had more influence in this than anybody else, outside of the OG New York shit. There’s no question about that.”

House Shoes will release his first ever full-length album next week Tuesday, titled Let It Go, the LP features his exclusive production paired with a slew of talented emcees.  And while his heart still bleeds Detroit Hip Hop, House Shoes currently resides in L.A., the city he has called home since 2006.  During the interview, he broke down why he had to leave the Motor City, and how his relocation has only helped him build up his brand and the Detroit Hip Hop that he loves.

“I had always been responsible to the city to the point where I was being irresponsible to myself.  It was always, ‘I got to provide and make sure we got these spots to go to and make sure I use my connections to help everybody else,” he said.   “It’s a low glass ceiling. I did as much as I could and I was just bumping my head on the ceiling for a while.  When J passed, that shit got really real…  Then on some real shit, two months later when Proof got killed I thought, ‘get me the fuck out of here. I just want to get out of the city. Just get me out.’  July 6, 2006 I touched down, and it’s been beautiful ever since. I never traveled outside of Detroit. Ever. I never gave a fuck. That’s what I’m talking about with that brand shit. I never gave a fuck about increasing my brand up out of Detroit cause I was just stuck in that tunnel vision ‘I got to rep for my city type shit.’  Since I’ve been here, I’ve been around the world 5-6 times.  I went to Korea last December. I’ve been to Australia 3 or 4 times, New Zealand, Europe.  Open your eyes up, the world is much bigger than the block you came from. It’s all about perspective.”

Check back next week for our full feature on House Shoes and listen to his latest single, “Nails” featuring Quelle Chris and Guilty Simpson.