S. Samuel
Fresh off yesterday's Illmatic-themed tribute entitled elmatic, SOHH hit up Detroit rapper eLZhi to find out if he had an opportunity to reach out to Nas and get his reaction to the release.
eLZhi said Illmatic contributors like Large Professor and Pete Rock have shown their awareness to the project.
“We gave the [elmatic] music out to Nas’ camp,” eLZhi told SOHH. “Large Professor, I’m hearing, was trying to reach out to me. We finally got a connection and we’re about to sit down and kick it. He heard about it and he’s feeling it. You know what I’m saying? So that’s a blessing right there. Me and Pete Rock go way back, so you know, just to get those stamps of approval from those people, that’s just a blessing right there.” (SOHH)
Yesterday, eLZhi talked to SOHH about his motivation for putting out the project for free.
“The main reason why I decided to put together this project is because there’s been people online that’s known about the elmaticfor three years. Honestly, if it wasn’t for them, after all these years and them still asking for the elmatic, I don’t know if I would have really put it out there like that. That’s one reason I’m putting it out there for free, for everybody that’s been waiting on it. The second big reason is because it’s a tribute. It’s a tribute to one of the illest albums, in my opinion, that’s ever touched hip-hop. It’s my love letter to Illmatic and it’s me just showing love and showing the youth that may not have heard of Illmatic to go out and check it out.” (SOHH Guest Star)
eL also said the tribute would likely be promoted via road tour.
“I think this is a one time thing for the elmatic. The next thing for it is to go out and do tours. It’s an eight-piece band by the name of Will Sessions who did the instrumentations on it. So me and Will Sessions hope to come to a city near you to perform it. That’s a little thing we got going and we also have videos in the works. I really wanted to put people up on Illmatic and even though I’m sure everyone is, I wanted to hopefully inspire any aspiring artistswho don’t know about Illmatic but can peep the vibe in elmatic. I definitely want them to go and encourage Illmatic and have people go out and check it out.” (SOHH Guest Star)
The project features ten cuts inspired by tracks originally featured Nas’ classic album, Illmatic.
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. now. 1. The Genesis 2. Detroit State of Mind (Houseshoes Shout) 3. Halftime 4. Memory Lane 5. The World Is Yours 6. Represent 7. Life’s A B*tch feat. Royce da 5’9 and Stokley Williams of Mint Condition 8. One Love 9. It Ain’t Hard To Tell (Pete Rock Shout) 10. Pete Rock Shout (XXL Mag)
Check out eLZhi’s “Halftime” below:
