I really think it would be hard for anyone to notice you and glorify you with a reputation as the "guy who never checks email before 9am". That old quote .. 'no one thinks about you as much as you do' comes to mind. He just said give it an hour, not forever.

E-mail isn't a good urgent communication method for anyone regardless of their level. It's common for people to be away from their e-mail or to only check it periodically while they work. I can get 10 e-mails an hour, I don't stop everything I'm doing for each one to see if it's urgent. I expect people to walk over to me or call for anything that needs to be done in less than half a day or so.

i REPLY to my emails twice a day and again at night. im not a founder or c-level exec.

im fine being the guy who's not replying to an email bc im paid to write code, not emails.

Very true. Instead you can get your email client to check emails less regularly, say once an hour, rather than every ten minutes. I found that quite useful to maintain focus and improve overall productivity.