Finally Slum Village rapper Elzhi’s first solo album, “The Preface” (distributed by Fat Beat Records and produced mostly by fellow Detroiter Black Milk) is getting its proper release -- today. And, like any Detroit artist navigating the underground hip-hop scene, there were unexpected hurdles to leap over.
“I did ‘Europass’ earlier this year and that album was leaked out on the Internet and my cats at (label) Fat Beat Records said they couldn’t put that out,” Elzhi explains of the technological complications that throws a wrench into labels’ and artists’ plans too often these days.
“So, I had to go into the studio with a short amount of time and make 12 new cuts. I kept four cuts off ‘Europass’ – ‘Motown 25,’ ‘Transitional Joint,’ ‘Save Ya,’ and a joint called ‘Talking In My Sleep.’ The rest were new cuts that I only had a couple weeks to find the proper beats to write up. But, it is such a sweat off my brow ‘cause people that have heard the record say it’s killing ‘Europass.’”
It should come as no surprise that Elzhi would step up and deliver when the pressure was turned way up. The prolific rhyme-with-a-reason mic specialist has always made believers out of true hip-hop heads, whether it’s from the most popular Slum Village joints (“Tainted,” “Disco” and the Kanye West-produced “Selfish”) to killer guest spots like Little Brother’s “Hiding Place” or the J Dilla's “Come Get It” from tbe ultimate classic “Welcome 2 Detroit.”
But the “The Preface,” Elzhi says, is the proper introduction to his solo self he has wanted to deliver for a long time. And now that time is upon us. Let’s go:
Finally, your proper solo album “The Preface” is coming out. I can imagine what the message is from the literal meaning of the title, but talk about what you want people to get from listening to it. How does it differ from working with T3 and your group Slum Village?
Basically, it’s the introduction to the story – to my story. People know me from the Slum Village world, but few people know that I was a solo artist and did solo things before Slum. “The Preface” is basically what I am about and what I can give to the hip-hop community.
I also want to let people know I have a wide range to what I write. You got some cats on the Internet that may think I am just a 16-bar or a hot-16 artist; I come in and do a hot 16 – boom! And I’m out…
Very few people know that I am a concept artist with and I think a lot of people are going to be surprised when they hear these new concepts. In my opinion, “The Guessing Game” does some things that have never been done in hip-hop, and that’s not just coming from me but from people who have heard the record.
The Internet leak of “Europass” forced you into a corner where time was not on your side and you basically had to come up with a dozen fresh tracks. You say the recording process was about three weeks long…How do you as an artist deal, and ultimately deliver, with that kind of deadline?
Sometimes you can get into a mode and sometimes you can be at a loss for words and may be speechless. But something usually triggers that mode and then all of a sudden you might do like five or six hooks a day in one day or finish a song or two in one day.
There were times when I was kind of stuck but then you bring certain people in, like I have a joint with this dude I go way back with – Fes Roc and we have joint on there called “The Science” (and Slum Village’s DJ Dez produced this track). I heard the beat and I’m like, “Wow, man BET, I’m gonna do ‘The Science’ on this joint.”
From there it came out crazy and I was able to do all sorts of joints. Sometimes, in that small time frame, you get these sparks of creativity that pop off and they last a long way. I can‘t lie: At times I was speechless and looking at the engineer like, ‘What are we gonna do?’ But when those sparks came, they came, and it was real effective.
You feature some other producers on the album including DJ Dez, but the majority of the production comes from Black Milk…
You know how Black Milk do, he all about that fire. We had to do it like that for this one.
I feel like he can paint a picture for a person who has never been to Detroit. Like when someone hops off a plane and steps on Detroit soil and goes around downtown and they hear Black Milk beats -- they can see and feel where that inspiration came from. Detroit is beautiful and grimy – it’s that paradox… Black can shift it to make it all the way beautiful or take it to the grimy side or he could keep it in between; that’s why I like his beats to my soundtrack.
When looking at the Detroit hip-hop community as a whole, it seems that there is a transitional phase going on…I mean the talent is by far and away some of the best there is. But at the same time it sometimes seems that fans here in Detroit aren’t necessarily coming out to support. How do crowds respond when you play outside of Detroit? Is it necessary to find a balance between commercial success and the underground? What do we need to do here?
If you was around the scene in the early ‘90s you might have been part of the hip-hop shop era; that was the super-hero lounge to me. Eminem was there before he got on, Slum when it was Baatin, JayDee and T3, Phat Kat, Royce (da 5’9”), Guilty Simpson, Obie Trice…It was filled with young versions of everyone…
From there you fast forward a few years to the future and you have the scene at Lush and then you got cats like Marvwon (of the Fat Killaz)…Now we don’t really have an open mic spot like that anymore but you have up-and-coming cats – Quest M.C.O.D.Y, Danny Brown, Reservoir Dogs…
The scene is forever growing and changing but Detroit still hasn’t got its full recognition…Even though this is the birthplace of one of the illest producers ever (J Dilla), the world is still sleeping; that’s a good thing and a bad thing.
It’s good ‘cause we’re always giving 120 percent just to be heard and in another light it’s like dang, a lot of cats doing that but it’s just not heard… This is Detroit, not New York City or LA where you have record labels left and right. We’re a part of this industrial town and I hate to say it, but you got artists giving 120 percent but they’re not being heard when they at these local clubs ‘cause cats aren’t showing up at these spots.
The A-T-L is crazy, Chicago is crazy. It’s wild, you would think that you would get the most love from your own city – and I am not saying that the city don’t love us – but we definitely need that support from the fans for us as performers and for our music to grow …
There are a lot of people who are feeling like they are on their last leg because they’re not getting the support. ‘Should I keep doing this?’ Cats doubt themselves and their future – so it’s all crazy.
I have no idea why the underground Detroit scene won’t come out for their own – and you know, it kinda hurts. When we go outside of the city -- to be real with you -- it’s a whole different world. I don’t know why it is, but it is. When we go to LA – it is packed. I mean Slum just did a show at the Crash Mansion and it was crazy packed, people were spilling drinks on each other… The energy there was different.
I hope when “The Preface” or Buff1’s record (which was just released) or Black Milk’s record comes out later this year or when One.Be.Lo performs -- I mean they giving that Motown flavor for real; putting it right in their faces with no shame. I just hope it gives cats hope and I hope that it opens up doors so that the industry knows that there is talent here. Detroit city is a hidden treasure filled with jewels inside.
I know we’re rapping about solo Elzhi…And we should mention you also have a highly-anticipated project coming out at the end of the year (the “Elmatic” mixtape) with Houseshoes that is an ode to Nas’ “Illmatic.” But I can’t let you go without asking what’s happening with Slum Village.
We’re slowly working on an album; there are talks of us signing with Koch (Records) this year. We’re just trying to make sure everything is in order as far as the business aspect from their end and our end so we can make the best possible album we can. We have been recording through the years; it’s just that we wanna come out in a major way.
We don’t want to make this album and have it fall on deaf ears; we got music cats ain’t even heard yet. We wanna make sure everything is right before we step in the studio and really put our minds to the album. Be on the look out for it early next year.
Elzhi's "The Preface" is available Tuesday, Aug. 12. Cop it.
