At first, hearing about Elzhi doing a tribute of Nas‘s Illmatic, I was dubious about the project. How can one do a reworking of what was, and still is, a perfect album? Illmatic was released the spring of 1994, when Nas was only twenty years old. 1994 was the year we received Notorious B.I.G.‘s Ready to Die, Gang Starr‘s Hard to Earn, Pete Rock & CL Smooth‘s Main Ingredient, Jeru the Damaja‘s The Sun Rises in the East, Digable Planet‘s Blowout Comb, Keith Murray‘s The Most Beautifullest Thing in the World, Craig Mack‘s Flavor in Ya Ear, Lords of the Underground, Organized Konfusion, to name a few. East Coast rap was alive and thriving. It hadn’t started drinking gin ‘n juice nor partying hard with Puffy and friends, as Jeru the Damaja rapped on “One Day.”

Elzhi has breathed more life into Illmatic with his tribute Elmatic, and in doing so, he has pushed himself lyrically and sonically, translating Nas‘s storytelling into stories of now, confined to Detroit streets and realism. Not taking anything away from the original, but magnifying musical arrangements by bringing live instrumentation. Elmatic is pure labour of love, produced entirely by funk fusion band Will Sessions, who have worked with Black Milk, Mayer Hawthorne, Slum Village, and Guilty Simpson.  The album has appearances by MC Royce da 5’9, Stokely Williams from Mint Condition, and also Pete Rock, who was one of the original producers of Illmatic alongside DJ Premier, Large Professor, Q-Tip, and L.E.S. All I can say, ”It’s Elmatic, shout outs to the homey, nah son, words from the wise one, make both your eyes run.” I often revisit Illmatic, and now I can include Elmatic to extend my Illmatic-isms. Get your Free Download right now! You’ll have it on heavy rotation!

“Genesis”

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“One Love”

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And check out the video for “Half Time.”

Harmonic 313 is Mark Pritchard, not to be confused with UK Labor Party MP either, though it would be dope if there was a relationship (hahaha). With When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence he does what my friend calls a sound bwoy burial. Truly, your ears will never feel the same once hearing this album. It’s dark, no smiling at all! His choice of beats, use of sounds is so far to the next level, I wonder what goes through his mind whilst eating his cereal in the morning!

A long-standing artist on Warp Records, Pritchard has worked with some amazing rappers in underground hip hop. Recently, he collaborated with Om’Mas Keith from Sa Ra Creative Partners on “Wind it Up,” Elzhi on “Battlestar” also featuring Phat Kat, and GoldieLocks, and Steve Spacek. He has such an extensive rap sheet, I suggest you do some research, and get your ears chewed out, starting here on iTunes.

Just so you know what I’m talking about, below are a couple of tunes, that are guaranteed to have your head banging. It’s muphorically sound!

“Dirtbox” on When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence

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“Köln” on When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence

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