Elzhi - Elmatic

"The 10-track offering—which finds the Detroit lyricist paying homage to Nas’s classic debute LP, Illmatic—was produced entirely by Will Sessions. Fellow D-Town MC Royce da 5’9” and Illmatic beatmaker Pete Rock also make appearances.
Fans can pre-order limited edition physical copies of the disc and other merchandise at elzhi.com."

This dropped the other week but I've been to busy to listen to it. I finally had to time to give it a once over and I can say it's got some strong tracks on it. I'm a huge fan of Nas' classic debut so to hear a new take on it is always interesting. It's still very similar to Fashawn's ode to Illmatic that came out a while back but on the whole I would say El's interpretation edges it with it's reworked instrumentals and re-imagined concepts.

Free download courtesy of XXL mag HERE.

[via XXL]

Elzhi - Halftime

Elzhi - Halftime Official video from GerardVictor.com on Vimeo.

Elmatic drops May 10th.

Fashawn - Ode To Illmatic

Ok so here it is. Fashawn, the CA rhyme-smith has released a mixtape that is [as the title suggests] an Ode To Illmatic.

I downloaded it a few days ago but decided to let it percolate before posting it to the blog. Here's the deal, I like Fashawn - he's good but I LOVE Illmatic. So "redoing" Illmatic in any way would instantly activate the cringe-factor, similar to when you hear some X-Factor contestant massacre a Marvin Gaye classic - no matter how well they might sing.

So for the first few listens I was uneasy. Fashawn lacks the buttery smoothness to his delivery that cemented Nas' debut a classic. However, that's not to say that it's bad by any means. In an age of mediocre Hip Hop mixtapes being released at a rate that by the time you've finished downloading one there's a new one out - which ultimately leaves a lot of them instantly forgettable - this one will probably stick around a while.

A particular favorite of mine is the reinterpretation of Life's Bitch, where Talib plays the role of AZ and absolutely murks it.

So on the whole, once you let it breath a little and give Fashawn a chance to be himself over the classic bangers and not expect to hear Nas the album really grew on me. The one gripe I do have is that [and I know I'm not alone with this one] along with Gangstarr's Moment Of Truth [RIP Guru] I can't help but mouth the lyrics to every track, cuts and all. So I did find my self attempting to complete the verses with Nas' original lyrics and feeling slightly put out when Fashawn dropped his knowledge instead.

Illmatic...

Download HERE.