Gary Houston aka E.D.O.T. (Every Drop of Talent) hails from New Jersey but has been living in Pittsburgh since he attended college at Point Park. We sit down with E.D.O.T. to find more about his mixtapes, his creative process and his upcoming trip to the UK.

K-Mo: Your moniker is E.D.O.T. (Every Drop of Talent), what’s the story behind that?

E.D.O.T.: Well, actually E.D.O.T. was something that I would always say in my ad-libs before and after a track. And one day one of my friend said, “What the Hell does that mean anyway?!” and I told him “Every Drop of Talent.” He was like, “Oh ok…Thats kinda dope…Why don’t we just call you E.?” and it just stuck.

K-Mo: Makes sense. You come from a family of musicians and artists, is that where you draw your inspiration or do you have more outside influence?

E.D.O.T.: Absolutely. Its funny because I tell people all the time that growing up for me was like a 24/7 music school. So when I say “everyone was involved in music,” that means EVERYONE either sang, was in a band, was behind the scenes handling the business, or trying to get in the business themselves. In addition my father was a writer and had his own independent label. So I heard everything from Hip-Hop to Gospel, R&B, Classical, Jazz, Blues, and even Rock’n'Roll. Now you take all those ingredients then add all the places i’ve been blessed enough to visit and things i experienced along the way, and you’ll have a bit of a blueprint for my music..

K-Mo: You released a series of mixtapes, Corruption 1 through 3…can you explain why you named it Corruption?

E.D.O.T.: Well when people hear the word CORRUPTION, they automatically think negative. By definition, it means the state of being corrupt or impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle. However, it also means departure from the original or from what is considered pure or “correct.” So in essence I wanted to create a body of work that captures the journey of breaking away from the “original” with no regard for what is considered “correct” or “normal.” The way i see it, Change is inevitable and Truth is always met with opposition. So with a new Generation comes new plateaus as well as new struggles and pitfalls, and they are almost always seen as extreme. This is why I thought it was important to have three parts showing a beginning, a middle, and end. The Rise is true to its name and provides a high-paced backdrop for the series, The Fall of Dotson takes it a step further showing the effects of Love and Decadence, and ‘The Letter’ offers a conclusion and shows a mixture of clarity and acceptance. Its like a book or movie…well to me at least. LOL

K-Mo: One of my favorite videos is “Just Fall”. Who’s idea was it to use the fluorescent paints? That was very creative.

E.D.O.T.: Really?! I’m glad you enjoyed it because we stepped out of the box on that one. The song for that video, “Are you Ready”, was actually the outro on Corruption 1: The Rise. I wanted the video to have the feel of a nightmare so it was pretty dark and a bit abstract. The paint was actually something i had thought would be cool in some instances. So when i brought the idea to Nick Carr, who handled the art direction, he took it a step further and Dave did his thing behind the lens.

“Just Fall” from David Prokopec on Vimeo.

K-Mo: How did you hook up with director David Prokopec?

E.D.O.T.: I met Dave through a friend of mine whose name ironically is also Dave. LOL Dave Hall was the Director for “Just Fall” and was one of the co-producers for “Make Me Fall.” He had told me Dave Prokopec was a genius behind the camera and I said “Get’em.” The rest is history

K-Mo: You just released Corruption 3, are you currently at Ground Floor Studios working on a new album/mixtape?

E.D.O.T.: Oh yeah… Im always working. I got the luxury having the best team of producers and artists u can find in not only Pittsburgh but anywhere. I always have a wide variety of QUALITY music at my fingertips whether it be from Ricky, Sayez, or Sym so theres always new material. But as far as my solo projects go……..I got some things on deck…no dates though. I put out a lot of music in the past year and i want to let it marinate for a second.

K-Mo: You’re travelling to the UK September 16th to perform for The Peacekeepers UK. How did you get involved with this and can you provide some details on the event?

E.D.O.T.: Well I was introduced to the whole Peacekeepers movement by Sarah Van Beek, who serves as their International Director. She and I had been working together for a while and when she explained what they were looking to do, I was more than happy to get involved. The Peacekeepers program is a Community Action Plan designed to help promote and KEEP the message of peace in communities. Unlike most of todays community outreach programs, The Peacekeepers are very adamant about formulating a plan of action and implementing it to its highest degree. They actually go out into the community to engage the youth while maintaining an open mind to the fact that these kids aren’t their parents and have much different obstacles to face. So its about education, awareness, but also its about bridging the gap. This is the main reason why I was all for being involved. They are having their international launch in the UK on Sept. 16 …which happens to be my birthday. LOL so its pretty exciting. All the details for the event can be found on their website http://thepeacekeepersuk.org

K-Mo: What else can we look forward to from EDOT in the second half of the year?

E.D.O.T.: Just more…Bigger and Better everything. I’m going to continue to be the EXAMPLE by making quality products. I’m going to keep raising the bar. Progress is Power.. I have a few tracks on Joey Fattz’s upcoming project “Joey’s World,” which is going to be a certified CLASSIC by the way, and we’re also working on a group project. But right now its all about CORRUPTION, JOEYS WORLD, LevelEOnline.com, and DemBoyzShopN.com. CrazyStraight LETTERMEN… Thats it!! Thats all!!

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for more on E.D.O.T. visit:

www.LevelEOnline.com

http://www.facebook.com/EveryDropOfTalent