After this H-Town veteran has spent the span of two decades in the booth, his creativity is on autopilot and he’s always putting on for his city.
Eliot “Hydro” Ness has made memorable music with every relevant Houston artist from Paul Wall to Scarface and has even taken his artistic mic prowess abroad, recording with international artists like Wyclef Jean. Now with his total focus on his own project, Ness has churned out a street relatable track with Deadend Redd and DJ Scream entitled “Juggin'” from his “I’m Me: The Beginning” EP.
Check out what Eliot has to say about the meaning of “Juggin”, the follow-up rescue efforts in Houston with Hurricane Harvey and why another H-Town emcee, Trae The Truth, deserves a humanitarian award.
The Source: So I’ve seen your resume and I see you got some joints with people like Lil Keke who else have you collabed with and what are you working on?
E.N.: Joints like “We On” and “25 Lighterz” videos aired on BET and MTV and I featured Paul Wall on “Cadillac”. I’m working on releasing a song with Willie D, Daz Dillinger and Scarface should be dropping soon.
The Source: How did that collabo come about?
E.N.: I reach out to a few people and I’ve known Face all my life growing up on the Southside we was in the same hood.
The Source: How is it it looking in the hood out there in Houston after Hurricane Harvey how is everyone holding up?
E.N.: People are still recovering and lost everything so they are all coming together networking more than anything to try to stay resilient but they are getting through it and coming together.
The Source: How did the storm personally affect you and your family and is it still affecting you?
E.N.: Well me and my family where blessed not to get so affected a few members lost cars but we were definitely blessed.
The Source: I heard UGK lost a large part of their catalog that’s why I asked. How have the social issues moved the Hip Hop community in Texas to react as far as you can see?
E.N.: Artists like Trae The Truth comes to mind first, I feel he deserves a humanitarian award because he’s done more than these mainstream artists have done or could even try to do to help the community. His actions are influencing a lot of others to react as well as network in my eyes. So he is triggering the effect on how people are reacting to one another.
The Source: Jumping out of the socio-political topic, how do you see the progression or regression of Hip Hop in Houston?
E.N.: It’s changed. I feel like it has evolved with the times. It’s helping Houston build a style that’s not just stuck on ATL Trap style of club music but it’s a mixture or gumbo of East Coast, West Coast, club banggers and it’s still changing. My style combines all the artists I came up listening to and like and I took what I learned and pushed it out to form my own and evolved into my own style and I’m still growing and changing.
The Source: So tell us what you’re currently working on and what we can expect next?
E.N.: I’m bout to drop my EP “I’m Me: The Beginning” which is the prelude to “I’m Me” the LP. The album features the likes of Willie D, Scarface, Daz Dillinger, DJ Scream and a lot of the artists I deal with.
The Source: You say Willie D is featured how is your take on what he is doing with his inspirational talks on Youtube?
E.N.: I like it, shout out to Willie D TV. I know everyone may not agree but if you just look deeper into what it is you see he is spitting good game that’s not being talked about in the news. The man is doing a good thing and we need the fact about what’s really going on in the world so we need to be aware of laws and current events.
The Source: Expound on your message with this upcoming project an newest single “Juggin”.
E.N.: Hustlers On The Block is my brand and I make what I call hustle, struggle and trap music cause I represent for the hustlers. “Jugging” is my newest single where I’m taking the bad connotation jugging has like robbing and stealing and flipping it to stand for hustling. So jugging is hustling it’s how you finesse and how you grind, you know your hustle. Hustling is not just selling drugs an all negative it’s having multiple grinds or being an entrepreneur and your own boss.
