There’s nothing worse than bad timing. Rapper Esso had to release this statement shortly after the passing of the legendary Michael Jackson:

This is one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do in my career. I was scheduled to announce this project on Wednesday of this week, but in light of Michael’s passing on Thursday Woody & I feel like the world needs to know what we’ve been working on for the last few months and why this has been so hard for me to deal with. I’ve been recording my own version of MJ’s Off The Wall album for the last few months now in honor of it’s 30th Anniversary which is on August 10th, and will release it 30 years to the day his original album came out.

Esso’s name is one that’s constantly in the Google Reader, but I never felt compelled to check his material out. It probably had to do with his name. While not the best reason, I’m not ashamed to admit it.  However, an original idea or ambitious concept will reel me in every time.  So I applaud Esso for sticking to his original plan and not feeling the pressure to move up his project or push it back in light of MJ’s unfortunate passing.

Download — Esso – “Don’t Stop”