By Gary Suarez in Interviews — Jul 31, 2025

Cropping Up: Eddie Valero

An interview with the rising Memphis native. +reviews of Raekwon, Estee Nack & V Don

Photo credit: Global Films.

CROPPING UP is a new interview series designed to introduce CABBAGES readers to talented hip-hop artists on the rise.

For this opening edition, I caught up with EDDIE VALERO, a Memphis, TN rapper who reps Orange Mound, the same neighborhood that produced 8Ball and MJG. This past Friday, he dropped the second volume of his Gangsta Blues series.

How has being from Orange Mound been part of your come up?

It's like the middle of Memphis, in between everything. You can hear it in my music; it's part of storytelling. Everybody in Orange Mound grew up and know each other. We're all pretty tight, like a tight knit community. I'm the first one that made it from the Mound since 8Ball and MJG, so it's a big thing. They was the only people I know, so I know I was against the odds. I had to work harder. When I was born in '93, that's when they was in the beginning of their career. So for me to even be able to do this, knowing that what they done, and I can do it on the same level if not more, it means a lot.

When did rapping first start being of interest to you?

I was 12 when I first started rapping. The instrumental was a Young Jeezy beat. I can't remember the song, but it was a young Jeezy beat for sure. Growing up out here, it was when the trap music first started to hit hard. He was one of the pioneers for the sound.

I dropped a series of tapes called Until They Feel Me. On Until They Feel me 1, I did a song called "Rich and Cocky." This is when I found out this was the flow I wanted to go with. That was it when I did that.

You dropped Gangsta Blues 2 just months after the first one, Why did you choose to go the sequel route instead of a deluxe edition?

I had a lot of songs I'd been making within the time. I wanted to double down. I was actually talking to my team and they was telling me the deluxe is made for in a certain amount of time. You get a certain amount of push. And I was like, well, if I'm going to drop again, I'm just going to go on and do part two and put out another 10 songs.

I listen to a lot of blues, so I just try to bring both worlds together and put flavor on top of it. Memphis sound maybe be having some crazy, off the wall samples. I work with good producers, so they always send me those type of beats. Nine times out of 10, they send it to me. Or sometimes I might hear an old school song and I just send it to my producers. I work with select producers, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I'm open to working with new producers, but I found the sound, so I try to build that sound with the same people.

Was the blues something you heard a lot as a kid that got played in the house?

Not necessarily. It's just something that I always used to gravitate to my own. Growing up, my mama, she played a lot of gospel music. But my daddy played a lot of Project Pat, Tupac, Geto Boys. Really what made me start doing the old school feel was the Geto Boys and Scarface. One of my favorite songs was "Mind Playing Tricks On Me." It had that crazy melody.

Now you're getting to work with a bunch of legends, representatives of Tennessee Hip Hop like 8Ball, Starlito, and Don Trip doing features. What is it like for you to tap in and get these cosigns from these veterans who again help pave the way for an artist like you?

Man, it mean a lot, especially with 8Ball because we from the same neighborhood for one. But Starlito always been in my top three favorite rappers. You can't mention Starlito without mentioning Don Trip. I grew up on Don Trip's music as well. So for me to even be on the road and on tour with these guys and working with them and they just embracing me, it mean a lot.

What do you look for in a feature when you're thinking about who you might want to work with? What do you want them to be able to bring to the table?

Just a different style. I feel like every feature ain't a good feature, no matter how big the name is. I try to think who would sound good on this record. When it's me and Starlito and Don Trip, it's more like we gel good together. With an 8Ball, I got up to send him something legendary. With BigWalkDog, I got to send him something turned up.

Notably, at this point you've been going the independent route rather than the major label way. Do you see that approach continuing or are you looking to eventually partner up?

Either way, but I will partner up if the price is right, for sure.

Raekwon, The Emperor's New Clothes

(buy it / stream it)

Raekwon's dynamic debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., its less celebrated follow-ups Immobilarity and The Lex Diamond Story, the solo comeback Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II, and his solid if overlooked 2010s fare all comprise a tricky lineage. Even with missteps on wax, particularly with producers, he nonetheless remains one of the Wu-Tang Clan's most decorated soldiers. Arguably its most enduring member in terms of influence, he possesses a lyrical legacy in mafioso rap resonating still through modern day descendants including but not limited to Griselda. His commanding spoken word presence on both Westside Gunn's FLYGOD Is an Awesome God opener "Jul 27th" and Conway's Slant Face Killah closer "The Red Moon In Osaka," as well as his overall cosign of the Buffalo crew indicated that its core trio would eventually grace one of The Chef's own albums. Sure enough, some eight years after The Wild, that moment arrives with The Emperor's New Clothes' "Wild Corsicans." Even though West's contribution oddly only amounts to a mere eight bars, compared with robust 16s from Conway and Benny, it was worth the wait to have all four rapping together at last.

The recorded return of Raekwon in a full-length demonstration of strength, supported by spiritual successors and unveiled amid his Shaolin brethren's acclaimed farewell tour, should have been the story. Instead, many in the gossip-driven hip-hop media seized instead upon Nas' guest verse on "The Omerta," apparently re-recorded before release and the speculative subject of beef with Jim Jones. At 55 years old, Rae had to resort to Instagram Live to quash rumors that his "Verbal Intercourse" associate had targeted his "Rock N Roll" collaborator in a rhyme. One hopes that distraction got a few more streams for The Emperor's New Clothes, as it amounts to his best work of the last decade-and-a-half.

Raekwon's narrative gifts have in no way diminished with time, filling the pages with the gripping "The Guy That Plans It" and the autobiographical "1 Life." On "Bear Hill," one of the album's few solo joints, he vividly summarizes a life that shows his journey from the infamous Park Hill Apartments to the veritable top of his hip-hop class. (That said, its off-putting, uncanny AI-generated music video pales in comparison to classic clips for "Heaven & Hell" or "Ice Cream.") Ever the team player, he sets both Ghostface Killah and Method Man up for success on "600 School," a trio cut that starts with his fabulous flurry of evocative lines that play out like vivid montage before the other two follow suit in their own respective styles. The interplay, specifically, between Rae and Ghost remains as strong as in the Bulletproof Wallets era, as low key highlights "Get Outta Here" and "Mac & Lobster" prove. Word is bond.

Estee Nack & V Don, BRAP 2

(buy it / stream it)

In the roughly two years since BRAP dropped, Estee Nack saw his profile rightly surge both within and beyond the Griselda base. Nacksaw Jim Duggan begat STONE TEMPLE PYREX begat SYSTEMATICALLY WE WERE NEVER FREE and so on, with his loyal fans eschewing deferred streaming service drops to get it straight from the proverbial plug himself. Similarly, V Don's stature grew during an ongoing run with elite spitters like Boldy James, Willie The Kid, and Conway The Machine. Much like their original team-up, this sequel harbors a plethora of street knowledge couched in limber lyricism and aesthetically grim(y) beats. An exemplar of this approach, "LAKOTA DREAM CATCHER" finds the Lynn, MA rapper lamenting people's desire to stay asleep rather than wake up to the unvarnished truth, his producer's piano plinks and thuds emphasizing his grave message. Lighter touches like the Doja Cat barb on the "CARVEL" intro acknowledge his innate wit, but even his cleverest bars come couched in a bleak pragmatism borne out of an atmosphere of violence. Admittedly, this is precisely what many come to Nack's records for, and he assuredly delivers on "OGFIRE" and the chillingly confident "RINGWALK." When familiars like Al.Divino and BoriRock enter the booth on "HIGHTECHNOLOGY," the atmosphere turns considerably colder.