eLZhi

A gifted MC and outspoken critic of commercial hip-hop, eLZhi began his career rubbing shoulders with Waajeed, Dwele, as well as the other gifted Detroit artists mixed up in city’s flourishing later-’90s underground hip-hop scene. After an appearance on Jay Dee’s groundbreaking 2001 record Welcome 2 Detroit, eLZhi became a member of the producer’s staff, Slum Community. With Jay Dee spending additional time with additional performers, eLZhi became the producer’s alternative, you start with the group’s 2002 work Trinity (History, Present and Future). Two even more albums through the group — 2004’s Detroit Deli (A Flavor of Detroit) and also a self-titled work in 2005 — made an appearance before eLZhi started concentrating on his single career using the 2008 launch The Preface. He reunited with Slum Town to get a 2010 LP, Villa Manifesto, although one fellow Villager, Baatin, passed away before its launch. A range of hip-hop luminaries made an appearance on the recording, including Posdnuos, Phife Dawg, Small Brother, Dwele, and DJ Babu. Villa Manifesto was eLZhi’s last using the group, nevertheless. He sprang back to single action having a mixtape, Elmatic, conceived like a tribute to Nas’ Illmatic; eLZhi had written all of the rhymes while Will Classes created. A Kickstarter marketing campaign helped account his next opportunity, Lead Poison, released in 2016.