BUCKY P & ESPY: BUILDING FROM THE GROUND UP WITH "DEBAUCHERY"
Every so often, the music industry seems to have a regional revolution. For a decade, or whatever time frame for that matter, the entire industry casts a light on a particular part of the country, or world, with respect to the artists or sound permeating from it. In the early 2000's the Southern half of the United States became the taste makers with early Trap Music pioneers like T.I. and Jeezy spearheading the way. Then in 2012 all eyes turned to Chicago, with artists like Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa G Herbo, Lil Bibby, and Chief Keef shooting to the forefront of the limelight. Then Afro-beat/Dancehall made heavy rounds in 2016, the Punk infused rap in 2017, and so many more sonic trends have ushered their way in and out since.
Over the years this sort of regional spotlighting pattern has brought some of the most influential acts to the fruit including trending artists like Lil Uzi Vert, Dave East, XXXTENTACION & more. And with all that said, it's kind of hard to pinpoint which region is ready to step up and become the next breeding ground for the leaders of the new school. And though it may sound crazy, we at DROPS MEDIA feel we have a substantially valid answer to that question, and that answer is, the Midwest.
Take for instance, Omaha, Nebraska bred Rap and Production duo, 21-year-old Buck Pistorius aka Bucky P (Pictured Right) and 25-year-old Espy (Pictured Left). The pair of Midwestern artists have been putting in work behind the scenes of the Underground circuit for years and have nabbed production credits and guest spots with a number of fledgling acts including Sk8 Maloley and WaddLifeBillie. Now settled in to their new diggs on the West Coast, Bucky P & Espy are ready to take on the world and prove that the Midwest is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to music. Their starting point you ask? Their new mixtape dubbed Debauchery.
Released a little over two weeks ago, the Debauchery mixtape is the debut collaborative effort for Bucky P & Espy and encompasses an aggressively advanced and hard hitting sound the two artists look to expand on in due time. DROPS MEDIA caught up with the guys in Studio City to chop it up about the making of the tape, the rappers progression, production and the road to obtain the full bag of chips with the dip. All in all, following our conversation with Buck & Espy, we will preface this piece by saying this: take this as your fair warning not to sleep on these cats.
Let's start this story off in Omaha, Nebraska. Take us there and describe how you got to this point from there.
Espy: Shit man, I was back in Omaha and I started doing rap shit and I just felt like — When I came out here I just felt the energy and shit, and the inspiration, and felt like I could make moves out here and do my thing. I just got back (Omaha) and I was pretty much on a mission to stack up a little bit and get out here (LA). Just got out here and been kicking it ever since. And with Buck, he was visiting a bunch anyway, and when he would come into town we had just linked up on whatever like Instagram, and just like ‘Let’s make some beats and shit, and fuck around.’ We started making beats and we were doing that a bunch and we also did some songs together, and then Buck was staying out here but he had to get a new crib and so I just had him come fuck with us and he been rocking with us ever since.
Bucky P: That shit crazy because we didn’t link up in Omaha we didn’t even know each other.
Espy: We had met each other one time, one time I think it was at an event but that was it, it wasn’t like a link up.
Bucky P: Yeah we pretty much met each other through Sk8 (Sk8 Maloley.)
Espy: I first started with that boy Absolut-P — My homie and I were going to make a song together and shit. So we pulled up to the studio, and I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I could rap and I wrote to some beat or some shit but I didn’t even know how the recording process worked because I was pretty much just a hooper until then. But I pretty much just gave that basketball shit up because I wanted to switch hustles and chase something different. So I went to AB’s studio with some kid and laid this verse and I remember I was nervous like I couldn’t get it, but once I did it, it was hot and they were fucking with it.
Espy: So I went there a lot for a minute, and then after a while, seeing the homie AB and how he could make beats and record cats I was on some shit where I was hustling in Omaha so I was putting that money towards building my own shit. I was like, ‘Fuck it I’m gonna buy Pro Tools too and learn it.’ Started with AB, but then I had a crib out West and I was just chilling out there and built my own shit, so towards the end of it I was just trying to learn how to mix and fucking with Ableton at the time, trying to make a beat, you know, just trying to hone the craft. And then I came out to Cali shortly after. And that’s why it took a minute for me to drop some music out here in Cali because I was still working on it, like the production and shit. But I feel like when we moved in we kind of leveled up and learned from each other and going hard. It has definitely been lit.
Bucky P: I just started doing a bunch of shit for some North Omaha rappers just for free just to get my name out there. Just fishing my shit out to rappers. The first rapper I probably really started fishing my shit out to was this dude named D-Lo Giovonni. That was probably the first rapper I started fishing my shit out too. When I first started making music, I first started making music with Zay Gaines. I met him in middle school and we was doing stuff together, and still doing stuff together. That’s how I really started making music, and making music with him really got me up there and got my name out in the city because people liked his shit a lot and I made most of his beats. And then that shit just carried on and then I started recording people, I had like a mobile studio. Every time I go to Omaha I’ll whip to they house with my speakers, big ass speakers and this whole set up basically and I come to they house with that and do it real official.
What was the first thing you two collaborated on and what was that moment like?
Espy: First shit we did was some beats man. We did some beats a few times. A song on the Debauchery tape called “Wait” with WaddLifeBillie was the first shit we did. And that was like the second or third time we linked up — we had made the beat for that and Willy was with us too, we were in this room but everything was turned around and then, long story short we pumped the beat out then they took that shit back Sk8’s crib and started the recording and sent it to me and I was like shit I’m bout to jump on that too. And that was just some early random shit before we did the tape.
Bucky P: That was before we even thought about the tape or anything like that. We made a song and we were just like, fuck it let’s just do a tape. It was after the song “Thank You.” We had made a couple songs before "Thank you," like we were just making songs because I was just here and we were around each other. And then me and CGuey cooked up a beat while Espy was getting ready for work and PG was sitting there designing some shit. I made the “Thank You” song by myself and then Espy just hopped on it when he got back from work and we were just like, ‘Fuck it, let’s do a tape.’
Espy: Yeah and then we just zero’d in on that shit. And we still going working on it we going on the next one. We already got records tucked we just ready to keep it pushing.
Bucky P: Man we just have the same mindset, honestly. We just on the same shit, we’ve taken like the same L’s, had the same problems and that’s why I feel like we connected way better and I feel like that shows in our music and that’s why I feel like shit intertwines so well.
What were you guys planning to accomplish with this tape, from a production perspective, or sound wise?
Espy: We didn’t really know what were going for. One of the main reasons we connect is because like Buck said, we pretty much we like the same shit. We’re both from Omaha, we like the same shit, we like the same type beats all the same rappers, you know what I mean? We just clicked on that level. So we were really just making shit on our beats with no real direction at first but then as we got our songs together and we realized like, ‘Damn these shits are so ratchet,’ we’re out here talking shit just saying the most — and then I think we were on the patio smoking and I was saying something was debauchery and Buck was laughing like what does that even mean and we were talking about it and I think later that day Buck was just like, ‘Debauchery let’s just call it that.’ So it just happened it kind of came to us.
Espy: But, once we had that title and figured it out it’s kind of weird how the records all fit in together. But yeah we definitely rocking with the first of many man we just getting started with this shit. We made that tape in two weeks. Besides the one that we had tucked from a couple months ago that was just a random record we didn’t know if we were going to put it out — Once we made that first one, we just went in for like two weeks, we used a couple beats that were already made, we had made some from scratch and went right in afterwards and just doing all different types of stuff. Just going crazy.
Bucky P: Shit was a vibe definitely, it was for sure a process. I had never really been apart of something like this, really building it from the ground up and campaigning it and really putting my all into it. This is like my first shit my first real project pretty much so my career just getting started. I’m ready to start going crazy, slapping tats on me, bout to get this image right, you already know.
Following the Debauchery Mixtape, what’s next?
Espy: Right now we know we want to get the visuals right, so that’s the next step. We got another homie from Omaha, he’s coming out here and we bringing him in like Buck, he’s going to stay with us too and we’re going to get those popping. And just start shooting ASAP, that’s here in a couple weeks so that’s the next step. Trying to get this presence going on Youtube and get that video presence and trying to bring the music to life, you know what I mean — And we have stupid, cool trippy ideas for the videos to bring to life.
Espy: The way it is with us, and another reason we are on the same page, is we see the in's and out's of this shit and we know enough people and been around it to see different parts of how the industry works and we love control what we can and do as much as we can — Even if it’s a longer route or whatever, we just want to be all in house and have all the creative control. So that’s why it makes sense to grab somebody we know that we can build with, and build these videos together with, just kind of like how we did with the tape — You know what I’m saying, there’s plenty of great dudes out here that are established and stuff that you can pay the rate to, and I am not knocking that hustle either but for us, we just love being apart of everything and we needed somebody that would want to be invested with it on that level as well. Someone that wanted to grow with us too, not just look at it as a job. We’re just trying to keep creating and just let the chips fall in place.
Bucky P: Yeah we are just very hands on. Shit is tough, shit is hard. It’s like, we already got the sound down now we just gotta get all the other shit down.
Espy: We been around and behind the scenes for years now.
Bucky P: I been making beats since I was like 10 man so I just been doing it forever. Just being in the cut and learning from other people. Just seeing how the game works — It’s really not all that, honestly, like the whole producing shit, like you see all the shit in the news, muthafuckas not getting paid and shit. And that’s kind of another thing that fuels us, because I used to only be on the producing shit like, 'I’mma just make beats,' But now, muthafuckas is making hits and only getting $1500 dollars and shit like, nah I need more than that. That’s another reason why we not with the whole label shit and trying to find somebody to plug us, we just trying to plug ourselves and do this shit ourselves that way everything on us so we can collect everything.
Espy: That’s why for us we aren’t really looking for new artists to produce for but if the right people come along we will work with them. Like shout out to Sk8, y’all know we fuck with Sk8 and like WaddlifeBilie and the gang and stuff. And its some other motherfuckers we rock with but it’s gotta happen organically.
Buck: Yeah we just not going out of our way to send people beats and shits. I done learned from that.
Espy: We look at it like, if we don’t fuck with the artists and have that genuine chemistry and both people need to want to work on it — we don’t feel thirsty about it because we believe in our own records and we’ll always use a beat ourselves if we fuck with it. It’s not like we are looking all over the place to get any placement we can with the production but like I said, we’ll work with cats. Sometimes though, like every once in a while we’ll see cats on the Internet that just got something to em — Like I got this cat I’m working with right now, his name is Drippy, I think he’s from Texas, he’s part of Sauce Walka that movement and he’s crazy he’s absolutely crazy, I found his Instagram and he’s got videos he’s doing all types of shit — Like I'm talking the most. But he had a hard sound and I see shit like that sometimes, and especially if they haven’t developed, I like to see that and I will hit them up early and work. But we aren’t relying on production to get out here and get our feet wet — We might have at first but once we started making records our minds kind of shifted like, ‘Why don’t we turn ourselves up.’ It’s like, aww yeah, we doing this shit.
Is there anything you want to let the people know, perhaps, new material they should be on the look out for?
Espy: S/O DROPS MEDIA we see y’all moving. We’ll let DROPS know now that you’ll definitely be seeing a “No Favors” video.
Stream Debauchery below and stay tuned for more from Bucky P & Espy. More to come after the DROP.
