The Heart of New Orleans: Sess 4-5

Sess 4-5 has been holding down the city for over a decade. Check out his journey.

In New Orleans, respect is earned not given. So, when you hear of someone being well respected and a solid individual, that individual earned those accolades. Sess 4-5 is very well known and respected throughout the city. Not only is he responsible for putting on some of the biggest events in the city, putting out fire music, but he was also frontline post Hurricane Katrina in efforts to get the city back up and running. Appropriately nicknamed, “Hustle God,” for his tireless work ethic and business grind, Sess’ name rings bells in New Orleans. The “Nuthin’ But Fire” Records CEO recently dropped a single, “Fine Thang,” which has already turned into a New Orleans anthem.

I caught up with the 9^th Ward legend to discuss his path to success, his new single and much more!

We’re international with it, so tell everybody who you are and where you’re from.

Sess 4-5: Sess 4-5, from New Orleans, Louisiana, 9^th Ward, Downtown, Desire Project. You already know.

I have been hearing your name for a long time on these streets, man. How did you get involved in the music game?

Sess 4-5: With the music, I started in elementary doing poems. I was writing poems through elementary and middle school. We published a few poems in elementary and middle. And then when I got into high school, some of my potnas was rapping in the hallways and in the cafeteria and stuff. One of em named, Daddy Yo. In the late 90’s he dropped a song, “Trick Daddy.” After hearing the record on the radio and everything, he came back to school fresh and fly with the Animal (sole) Bally’s, Girbaud’s. When school ended and we left for the summer, he didn’t have that stuff. He come back from the summer break and he got gold’s in his mouth, song on the radio and shit, so it just showed me it was possible. That made me want to get into it more.

Tell us about Nuthin’ But Fire Records.

Sess 4-5: Nuthin’ But Fire Records is a record label I started with 6War Pook and Young Sino in 2002. We dropped our first project which was my project in 2004, “Nuthin But Fire.” In 2007, after [Hurricane] Katrina, we opened up the record store, “Nuthin’ But Fire” Record Store. Just because we were here after Katrina in 2005, a lot of people needed music. I knew a lot of people who was doing music. In 2004 when we dropped the album, I had sent it to Gonzales. And they sold a few orders of our records. We were shipping the records to them in 2005 and 2006. But we were selling the LOG’s and 10 Ward Buck’s and anybody who had music. And then people started asking for other stuff, Bobby Womack and Earth Wind & Fire and all that type of stuff. It just clicked, none of the other stores were open after Katrina. So, I just hit Gonzales up and told them what I was planning in terms of opening a store. From me sending my music there, I knew what to get it from as a distributor. We ordered a bunch of music and shit… it was history. In 2007, we opened up, “Nuthin But Fire Records.”

Mr. Serv-On mentioned you when talking about the people that were on the frontlines of getting order restored in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina. What were those times like for you?

Sess 4-5: I wasn’t in New Orleans during Katrina. I went to Baton Rouge by my mother-in-law house. After the United States or whoever was in charge, blew up the levees and flooded New Orleans, I went back a few days afterwards while the ground was still wet, checking on the house and family members houses. It was inhabitable for a lil while. We went to Texas for maybe 2-months. I came right back, man. I threw the first concert in New Orleans in October of 2005. I had to get back because I would rather suffer, get it out the mud or grind it out in New Orleans than to do it in any other city.

You seem to have a solid relationship with all the local legends. How did you earn their respect and build these relationships?

Sess 4-5: Just being an artist, I think we have a tight niche community. I’m one of the people who is looking for success. We are all looking for success and I’ve been a fan of all of those artists. I respect them for one. I’m a fan of their music first and then as a businessman, we do a lot of business. By me having a store, I was selling their music. When you getting money together, it opens up the line of communications in a relationship. We kind of all grew up together. I’ve been knowing the, Ms. Tee’s, Mia X’s and all those people… Partners-N-Crime, I’ve been knowing them a long time. We have done music together and I’ve just been around them for years and years. I book them for shows and we do community stuff together like the Katrina March and Second Line. We just do a lot of business and I do shows with a lot of artists, a lot of big artists, local artists and regional artists. But I always make sure we focus on the home team and making sure the home team is the pride. We’re making sure we stick to the culture and doing local shows, bounce shows, so other people get to see our culture.

I feel like the culture was overlooked for so long and now it’s finally being sampled and put on the forefront. How important is it for you to keep that going?

Sess 4-5: It’s super important. That’s one of the reasons why I came back to New Orleans, to keep the culture going and maintain my culture even for myself. I remember artists who was from New Orleans and they were living in Texas for 2-3 years and they were trying to make records and bounce records, but they were gone for 2-3 years, and you could hear that in their records. You could hear the Texas slang or the vibes in the songs. So, it was super important that we kept our authenticity. Once you lose it it’s gone. If all the artists lose it and they in the mainstream… that’s what made a lot of people come back because we were back, we were doing stuff and we were booking even the ones that was living in Atlanta, Texas or wherever they were at. They would come back to New Orleans and do a show.

Once they came back and they saw, Okay, New Orleans is back,” whether they came for Mardi Gras or Essence [Festival] or whatever it was that brought them back… they saw that New Orleans was back. There are still crawfish boils and everything still going on how it was pre-Katrina. And then they started hearing the music that the artists that were here was dropping, it’s like, you can’t compete. The stuff they saying. As an artist, you create the slang. You create what everybody say. Either you tap into it and take the stuff people saying and put it into your songs or you create it. If you in Houston and all you hearing is, “What it do?” What it do is in your songs, but you ain’t hearing all this stuff that we saying in the city because you’re not here. It’s just super important that New Orleans have it’s own identity in the world and that’s what we do as artist. We keep that culture alive.

That “Fine Thang” single you just dropped is a perfect example of that. That title and the meaning behind the song is definitely New Orleans culture to the fullest.

Sess 4-5: The new single, “Fine Thang,” we just dropped it. I’m bout to drop the video in about 2 or 3 weeks. It’s a day in the life of a New Orleans person (laughing). You meet a female and she fine and she serious and you take an interest in her. You wanna go on a date with her, you trying to make her your girl. You go get some crawfish and a daiquiri. You chill at the DJ; you know what I’m saying. I just wanted to make sure we told the stories and we included some of the things that go on in New Orleans that people may not know or understand, like the Social Shakedown that come on the radio. Just what we do in the city and everybody like it and messin with it. That, “Fine Thang.”

You got BlaqNmilD to produce it right?

Sess 4-5: Yeah, BlaqNmilD produced it and we recorded it at his studio. That’s one of the slangs here. I’m pretty sho people say it around the world or used to say it, but when we talking about a woman we say, “That thang fine, boy.” “That’s a fine thang right there.” I just wanted to embrace it. I got a lot of singles that I came out with. I got a lot of records and my girl records always do super well. I wanted to take the lead and get it out there before the summer, so that was the whole plan. I wanted to get it out there and pump it, so it would be hot by the summertime. This whole ordeal [Corona Virus] kind of threw a monkey wrench in what we were doing in 2020, but we still going to go hard.

I have been enjoying them and I see you have been on some and enjoying them as well, these Instagram competitions where these legends are going hit for hit. We need that right now.

Sess 4-5: I think it’s great for the culture. I definitely wanna see a lot more battles. I definitely think it’s great for the culture, whether it’s beat battles, hip-hop battles, R&B battles. If we gotta endure a bunch of stay at home stuff, we’re going to need this kind of entertainment. I actually put out a challenge here myself locally to see if any one of the giants in New Orleans hip-hop want to go against me, but it look like everybody ducking this wreck. Nobody don’t wanna crash with me. I’m still waiting on somebody who got a catalog to go against me. It’s going to happen. I’m going to force somebody hand, but I definitely threw the challenge out there.

I wanted to give you the opportunity to speak on 5^th Ward Weebie. He was so influential to this New Orleans music movement and we lost him.

Sess 4-5: That is a monumental loss for New Orleans. He is definitely one of the pioneers and one of the guys who put the bounce music on the map. He made a lot of great strides. And Weebie actually elevated my game because I was a part of his label after he branched off from Master P. We did some joint projects, “Nuthin’ But Fire” and “Fat Boy.” We dropped a bunch of music and when he was hot with the “Ooohhhwee” and “Rock The Boat,” with, P, he took me on the road with him. Me and P. Town Moe went on the road doing shows all over. He definitely assisted me and a bunch of other people in a humongous way. He was not only a bounce artist, but a real friend and a true brother. I consider Weebie a brother. Slept in the same bed and was hungry together and was having success together.

I think that’s a part of the relationship stuff that you say with me and the other top artists. Ms. Tee, Lil Ya and Tec-9 from UNLV and all these different people, we got other relationships besides music. LOG and a bunch of artists who been doing this stuff. And then the ones that I didn’t know before they were the artist that they are or just from doing business, we became friends and brothers and sisters in the game. So, it be bigger than music. We loss Ellis Marsalis and a bunch of other people that we loss from the music community and we just gotta honor them and keep their name alive. They just had a big beat battle the other night with, BlaqNmilD and Blazer, and they were playing Magnolia Shorty music and Weebie music. Every opportunity we get… like I got a thing called, “New Orleans Kings of Comedy,” that I produce. It’s a comedy show with five of the biggest comedians from New Orleans and we make sure we pump Weebie music and the New Orleans legends while we on the road. So, the “Get The Gat” record from Lil Elt and all that. We help maintain and blow these records up.

Keep doing your thing and anything I can do to get the word out, just let me know. Let people know how they can find you.

Sess 4-5: Sess 4-5, Nuthin’ But Fire Records, The Hustle God. Ya’ll can find me on Instagram at sess45, YouTube, Nuthin’ But Fire Records, Twitter @SESS45. Facebook and all that’s stuff it’s, Sess 45. Holla at cha boy, man. DM me, comment ya heard me. I love the support from everybody. I got the new single, “Fine Thang,” I got the albums on all streaming platforms.

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