Meet The Artist: WEAPON ESP aka MR.AUTOMATIC

Genosha Records MC WEAPON ESP is scoring nothing but Head Shots, and he is on a Kill Streak.

If you have been following #WVCCRadio, #CyphLyfeBlog, or just the currents of Underground Hip Hop, you know that the state of Massachusetts has been cranking out some top-shelf hip hop for a hot minute now. Making his move for the spot at the head of the Mass pack is 1/3 of the Massachusetts Label known as GENOSHA RECORDS, the Hometown Home Run Derby Champion, WEAPON E.S.P. #WVCCRadio and #CyphLyfeBlog have had the pleasure of chopping it up with WEP a few times over the past 2 years, interviewing him both on our Live Stream show and for the blog. With the release of his latest Solo LP, MR. AUTOMATIC, we wanted to give our South Florida Audience, & audience abroad, a more in-depth look at the MC who escaped the “WEAPON X” Program.

BACK STORY

Growing up on the streets of Southbridge, Central Mass, a young Shane Presutti met a young aggressive Michael Arrastia aka LOGUN of MAIN AIM, who he credits with introducing him to Real Underground Hip Hop & “These Hands” at an early age. He recounts joining a Street Football game in front of his house when he was 8 years old, where he caught a pass and was full-out tackled onto the asphalt by LOGUN. He remembers immediately getting up and swinging on LO, who turned the tables just as quick and wound up back on top of WEP, raining down punches on the young E.S.P. “It was the first and last time I ever got my ass whooped that bad. Mike’s aggression just took me by surprise and I was like, what the fuck just happened”. They both mark that as the start of their lifelong friendship which has evolved into one of Mass’s Newest and most formidable Indie Hip Hop Labels, GENOSHA RECORDS. After unveiling their joint venture of being their own masters in the music industry with the JUICE HEADS EP, the two locked themselves behind closed doors during the year of quarantine and created what many are already calling an AOTY contender, only a day after its release.

Making a Name in Mass.

Lets not put the plow before the horse though. Before he became Mr. Automatic, the mc of Italian descent took up the name WEAPON E.S.P., inspired by his love for the Wolverine/Weapon X Marvel storyline. Under this new moniker he made it his mission to make a name for himself in the bubbling MC Community of Massachusetts that was being spearheaded by the likes of MR. LIF, APATHY, 7L & ESOTERIC, AKROBATIK, and REKS, just to name a few. A regular at live shows and respected in any cypher, WEP started building his rep and experience on the stage and in the booth, releasing his first album, D-EVOLUTION in 2018 which featured a raw, and hungry ESP and LOGUN under the alias VICTOR KREED. It was around this time that WEP ran into someone he first considered as the OPS in a Cypher, who later became his “Partner in Rhyme” GHOST OF THE MACHINE.

Clash of The Titans/Birth of a Savage Juice Head

“When I first saw him in the cypher I was like, oh, kid thinks he’s nice? Fuck this guy, I’m gonna kill um.” Ghost of the Machine recalls during our first interview, as he tells the story of how he and WEAPON E.S.P. fatefully met and eventually formed the groups now known globally as SAVAGELAND with Producer RECOGNIZE REAL & Their duo JUICEHEADZ. “We didn’t have beef or anything, it was just I was looking for the best so that I can sharpen my skills battling them, the meanest and baddest, so when I saw him spitting all cocky like its nobodies business, I knew this was what I was looking for and now it was time to show and prove”

The two have been quoted on multiple occasions admitting that they bring the best out of each other’s pens, which is probably why SAVAGELAND/JUICE HEADZ was selected as one of WORCESTER MAGAZINE’s FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2020, and #WVCCRadio’s #RookieOfTheYear2020. The 2 find enjoyment in trying to outbar one another and compete to see who can kill the most beats, like Gimly and Legolas if they followed D.I.T.C. and the Celtics. However, E.S.P. was still a man on a mission to make his own mark in Hip Hop. With the success of his group releases fueling him, he just set his site on a bigger target, from the local Hip Hop Scene to International Underground Circuit.

MR. AUTOMATIC: THE REVIEW.

Legend has it that LOGUN locked WEAPON ESP in the Dungeons of GENOSHA ISLAND throughout the Corona Quarantine. Chained up alone in the darkness with only beats and bars to keep him “Sane?”, ESP snapped and became MR. AUTOMATIC. As he spits on the DJ PROOF produced FRANK CASTIGLIONE, “AYE YO, THEY KEPT ME OUT THE LIGHT TOO LONG/ THEY DID ME WRONG/ NOW I’M AN INSTRUMENT OF DEATH ON WAX/ FRANK CASTIGLIONE”. WEP & LOGUN both recall the 1st song they laid down for the New Project. “We played the beat, he wrote to it and recorded it in like 30 min. All one takes in the booth. Sounding phenomenal. Next time he came over to record, the same thing, wrote it, spit it, laced it, all effortlessly. I fucked around and said, “You pretty automatic with it right now”. ESP says that’s when the title of the album was born. “I’m gonna call this shit MR. AUTOMATIC,” I told LOGUN, but it wasn’t until the songs started taking form that the vision of MR. AUTOMATIC being this “ultra hitman” came to be.” The artwork by JIMBO SALGADO just tied it all together and gave MR. AUTO a face to be feared. Rightfully so, seeing how WEP uses 11 of the 14 tracks on the album to paint the town red with bullets.

The fledgling Indie Lable did a great job with their SINGLE releases, made evident by how your brain chemistry changes as soon as BANE’S PHYSICAL FRAME starts to play. The Fight or Flight responses are immediate and unavoidable as the familiar beat warns you of the upcoming fight to the death.

Followed by the latest single, CUT THE WIRE, where the whole GENOSHA clan take turns welcoming you to the album, gently as walking you into a gang. One of my favorite songs on the album hands down and the new video makes the song 100 times better. Once the boys are done whooping your ass in the front yard, they invite you in to the crib through a side door which leads to a kitchen where WEAPON ESP is busy COOKING over a CEE GEE beat that reminds me of Scooby and Shaggy walking around a graveyard, only when you take off ESP’s Mask, you find he’s a REAL monster. WEP is “just having fun man” as he claims “It goes sex, drugs, rap and soul / fly Muay Thai/ Tong Po combo flows/ keep lost duns/ slums holy ghosts close” That boys and girls is what Super Assassins are made of.

Here we have the solemn moment of the album, back-to-back beats from DJ PROOF, Miami’s Boombap King. SNIPERS BREATH & THE PROVEN FORMULA (feat cuts by underground goldenchild DJ GRASSHOPPA) are soul tugging joints that could make the Punisher reminisce on his lost loved ones, Shedding a single tear, before going out and exerting his vengeance.

HOBGOBLIN provides a fantastic Piano Key landscape on MUSASHI and HANZO BLADES blesses us with a masterful audio collage of Wind and String instruments on SWORD SERENADE, and WEAPON ESP uses both like Double Katana Blades in the hands of battle-tested samurai.

If you ain’t familiar with the 2nd single off the album yet, Your wig will be pushed back when BULLSEYE SCORES starts as the Three-Headed Hydra of GENOSHA and Fellow Mass Mic Gawd ESTEE NACK take turns flexing at the shooting range produced by REESE TANAKA. Let me take the time to say that this album was my first time hearing Mr. Tanaka’s productions and he undoubtedly has the 4 hardest songs on the Project, Including CLINT EAST that features a JAMIL HONESTY who matches WEP shell for shell.

Not to take any shine away From the other producers or the tracks they are a part of. FRANK CASTIGLION & MINE FOR DIAMONDS, also produced by DJ PROOF, are both favorites of mine on the project (The latter includes a special guest appearance by GHOST OF THE MACHINE on the Hook and Blues Guitar legend JOHNNY PRESS, Weapon E.S.P.’s Father).

The Album Outro by fellow SAVAGELANDer REC REAL brings closure to the album that makes you both happy and hopeful for the violent sequel. I think LOGUN says it best during the closing minute of the album, “Thats All We Do at GENOSHA Records, BANG BANG, STRAIGHT DUMPING “…SAVAGELAND = HEADSHOT, JUICE HEADZ = HEADSHOT, MR. AUTOMATIC = HEADSHOT. They just don’t miss.

Wait…what was that? Ahhh shit….I think I just heard them reload the clip.