The Audacity of Dope

Elzhi’s manager, Jae Barber, teams up with Gerard Victor to create some nice visuals for El’s remake of Nas’ classic (and my favorite song off Illmatic).  You’ll recognize faces like Eminem, Royce Da 5’9″, J Dilla, Proof, T3, Baatin, and others in the footage of Detroit’s legendary Hip-Hop Shop, famously highlighted in 8 Mile.

Elzhi’s back with the next set of visuals off Elmatic, this time linking up with Michael Castelaz to highlight “It Ain’t Hard To Tell.”  Has anyone asked Nas if he’s heard the project yet?  Most artists would probably be a little salty, but I gotta think Nas would be appreciative.

I saw a few people commenting on the wait we’ve endured for Elzhi’s Elmatic and it was evident that they were a little frustrated because it’s not necessarily a completely original concept.  However, the few records that we’ve heard off it so far are RIDICULOUS so I’m really looking forward to it being released on May 10th.  The combination of Elzhi’s Nasir-influenced bars with live instrumentation is gonna be crazy…

Big L is my favorite MC of all time, but in his absence, I’m not sure there’s a rapper out there that I appreciate on a technical level more than Elzhi.  The way he constructs each verse and flips these words together is insane, plus his flow is about as sharp as it gets.  All this is on display in his new video for “Deep” off his Leftovers Mixtape.  Shout to the homey Gerard on the direction as well.

Well this came out of nowhere.  Peep this Dwele directed video for a brand new Slum Village song produced by Karriem Riggins.  Seems like there may have been more, but after Baatin’s untimely passing, perhaps the video and song were cut short to highlight Titus.  RIP.

Seattle people: Don’t forget that we have our (abridged version of) Rock The Bells on Friday at Showbox Market.  Reflection Eternal, Slaughterhouse, Slum Village, Pete Rock, and a few others.  Holler @ a Hyphen when you see me there.

As I showed y’all yesterday, we’re snowed in here in Seattle and as a matter of fact, it’s even worse than it was during that video.  I think we’re up to about half a foot of packed snow on the ground, with no signs of it letting up for the next few days.  It’s really cool looking outside and fun to walk around in, but the downside is that I’ve been stuck around my house for 4 days straight now.  Wait…that’s probably not such a bad thing…I have good food, a warm place, football (and futbol!) on TV, and I’ve been able to finish up a ton of work.  I take it back, this snow thing is kinda dope.

Well, aside from the fact that I haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet and I’m suppose to be moving in 10 days.  If I have to move my couch on ice skates, I’ma be very, very upset.

Anyway, in the meantime, I’ve been getting some old projects finished.  Here’s some simple Flip Cam footage I grabbed of the homies Black Milk and Elzhi performing at the Red Bull Big Tune stop here in Seattle on 9/12/08.  If you recall, we recorded a dope interview with them the day before, which you can still check out right here.

At the show, they ran through some of their illest songs, including “Sound The Alarm,” “Motown 25,” “Hiding Place,” “1, 2,” and more.  If you’ve never seen Milk and El rock live, you’re missing out.

“Detroit in the muhf****n’ buildin'”

A few months back, J. Moore and the rest of the Red Bull Big Tune fam brought Elzhi (of Slum Village) and Black Milk to the town for the Seattle edition of the beat battle.  Before tearing it down at Neumo’s that night (I’ll toss some of that footage up if I get time), they came through Sound Session to record an interview with us.  Unfortunately, since we’ve had so many guests coming through lately, it’s taken a minute to get the audio up for y’all.  Better late than never though, especially when you’re dealing with two of the dopest artists in the industry right now.  I don’t think anyone is seeing Elzhi bar for bar, and with the release of Tronic, Black has staked his claim for the top MC/producer out there.  Seriously…do you hear how he’s spittin’ on that album?

Anyway, the interview was recorded in between the releases of Elzhi’s The Preface and Black’s Tronic, so there are a few occasions where it sounds dated.  Even still, I highly recommend checking out the full discussion to hear them break down both projects in detail.  They also talked about their inspirations both past and present, their creative processes, all things Detroit, what changes they hope Barack can bring to the people, their upcoming work, and much more.  Enjoy!

Elzhi & Black Milk on Sound Session – http://www.mediafire.com/?4nl20wo3wjy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/52144263069bf0be/ )

Do yourself a favor and go cop The Preface and Tronic if you haven’t already.  Your “Best of 2008” list isn’t complete without both of ’em, trust me.

It’s been a while since I archived Sound Session immediately following the show, but I figured I’d toss the latest episode up for y’all before I crash.  That said, I’d prefer not to start off my week with no sleep, so I’ll keep this brief.

While J. Moore is in NYC to host the finals of the Red Bull Big Tune beat battle, I held it down solo (“so low they can’t hear you Carlton” © Will).  As usual, we played dope joints all night and I decided to switch it up for the last block and played some of my favorite ‘alternative’ type songs to close the show.  I’ll forever be a backpacker, but thankfully I’ve grown to understand that good music is good music, boom-bap or not.

Special note: the full interview with Elzhi & Black Milk (aka “40 minutes of dopeness with two of the illest in the industry”) will is posted below. I aired a few snippets last night, but trust me, you’ll want to listen to the entire thing.

Show #183 (11-30-08)

1. Ludacris – “M.V.P.”
2. Evidence ft. Alchemist – “So Fresh”
3. Convinced – “Miss Memory”
4. Dela ft. Talib Kweli – “Long Life”
5. Grynch – “Take A Trip (Local Artist)
6. GLC ft. Kanye West – “Big Screen”
7. B.o.B. – “I’ll Live In The Sky”
8. 88 Keys ft. Kid Cudi – “Ho Is Short For Honey”
9. Common – “Gladiator”
10. **INTERVIEW WITH ELZHI & BLACK MILK, SNIPPET #1**
11. Elzhi ft. Royce The 5’9” – “Motown 25”
12. **INTERVIEW WITH ELZHI & BLACK MILK, SNIPPET #2**
13. Black Milk – “Long Story Short”
14. Fresh Espresso (Rik Rude & P-Smoov) – “Diamond Pistols” (Local Artist)
15. Self Scientific ft. The Game, Talib Kweli, & Cobe – “Everywhere I Go”
16. Keelay & Zaire ft. Tunji (of Inverse) – “Addicts For Real”
17. Json – “M.O.B.” (Local Artist)
18. Kanye West ft. Kid Cudi – “Welcome To Heartbreak”
19. The Knux – “Hush”
20. He Say She Say – “Crash Dummie”
21. Colin Munroe ft. Wale – “Will I Stay (Remix)”
22. Robin Thicke – “Cry No More”

Link to download the mp3 of the show – http://www.mediafire.com/?qym2mje1k2m
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/521000594c2910a1/ )

Link to download the full interview with Elzhi & Black Milk – http://www.mediafire.com/?4nl20wo3wjy
(back up / streaming link – http://www.zshare.net/audio/52144263069bf0be/ )

If there are any problems with the links or if you’d like to be added to our weekly email list to receive the playlist and download links after every show, just shoot me an email, DJHyphen@gmail.com.

New visuals for the lead single off Black’s Tronic album, one of the best projects of the year and the CD currently holding my deck hostage.  Go buy it.  In the meantime, make sure you at least have this jawn:

Black Milk – “Give The Drummer Sum”

Interview with Milk & Elzhi coming as soon as I get some free time to toss beats behind it.  Soon though…I swear!

Video courtesy of Legend.

With White Van Music scheduled to drop on October 7th but already circulating (in clean form) on the net, Jake has decided to post the demo version of one of the standout tracks, “Glow.”  This edition is slightly different than the final track, plus it includes a 3rd verse from Elzhi and no appearance from Royce The 5’9”.  Whichever way you slice it, this joint is classic.

Jake One ft. Elzhi – “Glow (Demo Version)”

Stay up to date with the man himself on Jake’s new blog and be sure to tune in to Sound Session on October 5th to hear more behind the scenes stories about the album.