Things are busy for House Shoes right now, the DJ and producer from Detroit who put the city’s music and culture on his back close to two decades ago. House Shoes has quite the resume. He’s held residencies at Detroit’s best venues for Hip Hop music along the way creating spaces and platforms for cats to network, show their skills, and celebrate the music. He also worked closely with J. Dilla, and has DJ’ed or produced for the likes of Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, Danny Brown, Mayer Hawthrone and damn near anybody else in Detroit’s Hip Hop scene. We’re supposed to talk about all that as well as the upcoming release of House Shoes’ first ever solo album, Let It Go, but about two minutes before my interview with House Shoes, he lets me know that he’s going to need a bit more time before he’s ready to talk.
“Everything is just hectic period,” he told me after connected, just a little bit later than originally planned. “I’m getting all this content and everything together to keep pushing the record… Just making sure all these dots are connected.”
Dot-connecting is a big theme in House Shoes’ career. He calls himself a professional dot-connector, and excels so much at connecting the dots for others, that he sometimes neglects to do the same for himself. That realization, and the task of correcting the problem, are at the foundation of House Shoes’ new album. It’s title, Let It Go, is a reference to getting his music out there, and pushing his own brand to the forefront. He is letting go of any hesitancy in releasing his music, as well as a real-life realization that he is getting older and growing weary of living on a survivalist mode in exchange for a career in the music biz. “It’s all kinds of shit man,” he says. “I’m a 40 year-old motherfucker coming of age.”
In this interview with Detroit Hip Hop’s legendary ambassador, House Shoes speaks about putting together his new album, seeing the growth of Mayer Hawthorne and Danny Brown, his connection to Detroit Hip Hop, and much more. Check it out.