Words are the only weapons an MC has. They’re the only knives he has to cut, carve, slash and serrate. He must dissect with words, or the body of Hip-Hop remains unexamined.
Elzhi has mastered his weapons.
He pulls lyricism beyond the expected. His understanding of cadence, timber and flow relegate him to the endless heated debates of best living MCs — the divide of those wholly bought by his style and those who say he raps too much. Outside of the generally accepted picks (Andre, Em, Jay, Nas,) the discussion turns to wild cards — some favor Blu or Phonte, some Lupe or Doom. Some say Elzhi. Either way, he is part of the discussion.
As half of present-day Slum Village, and with featured spots for J Dilla, Little Brother and Black Milk, Elzhi has sharpened his words to surgical standards. Now the Detroit MC comes with his solo effort, The Preface — a debut heavily rooted in the D. For some, the album will be a dark web of tough beats and too many words. For others, the album will unsheathe the wicked weaponry that puts Elzhi in discussions of greatness. Either way, he is part of the discussion.
The Crew’s LC Weber had a chance to speak with Elzhi about his album, these transitory times in Detroit, his “welcome to the big leagues” moment on tour and his arsenal of words.
TSS: Do you ever have people who come to you and tell you you rap too much? That you try and get too complicated with it?
Elzhi: Yeah yeah yeah. I do, I do. I mean even back in the day, the label was telling me to “smarten up and dumb it down,” you know what I’m saying? But I can only be me. I can only do what I like to do. I’m all about raising the bar. But in today’s music it’s all about people lowering the standards to get across what they’re trying to get across. And to me it feels like they’re insulting the listeners. You got certain people who might not have graduated high school, but they can still comprehend. I feel like the radio is insulting the listeners, and I feel like certain labels and the way everything is running is insulting to listeners. But I’m just doing me, you know what I’m saying? I’m all about raising the bar. If I was to try and write something simplistic, you know, I would ball it up. I can’t do it. I’m all about what I do.
TSS: There’s a track right at the top of the album where it’s like a game and you’re leaving half a word off… I’ve never heard anything like that.
Elzhi: Yeah, “Guessing Game…” Thanks, thanks. That’s why I did it, to kind of keep things fresh. We got to start doing things, not only on the beat-end but on the rap-end, things that’s never been done. From a creative standpoint, things that can spark other ideas in people to want to do something different like that, or even better than that. With songs like that – “Guessing Game” and “Colors” – when I think of those kind of songs I don’t really got a name to put to it yet, but that’s just me playing my part in this Hip-Hop industry.
TSS: I can remember talking three, four years ago about Detroit needing to form a united front, and some of that has come to fruition on some of these joints [from The Preface.] I see a lot of that united front now, but do you feel like people outside of the D don’t see it that way now with Dilla passed and Proof passed and people moving away to California and getting separated. Do you think people are starting to think now that Detroit is less relevant in any way? Read the rest of this entry »
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