PressedBlack Ice Colored Vinyl

Between paying his dues at Hip-Hop Shop, building a buzz from his Out of Focus EP, andenjoying more visible success after joining therenowned group Slum Village, Elzhi always had aone-of-a-kind penchant for lyrical wizardry. Withmultilayered rhyme schemes, uncannymetaphors, and inventive concepts, hepersistently had a case as the most gifted rapperin his city even when Eminem dominated thecharts.
But even some of his most dedicated fans knewthat he hadnt crafted a legacy-defining albumyet. Such records often come from pain, and in2009, thats exactly what he dealt with: his SlumVillage groupmate Baatin suddenly died in July,longtime manager and Detroit rap impresarioHexMurda suffered a nearly fatal stroke twomonths later, and he went through a messypublic breakup with SV the following year.

In 2011, Elzhi fearlessly took on the biggest challenge of his career: remaking Nas GOATed debut album Illmatic in his own name. Heenlisted four-piece band Will Sessions to put alive, vibrant spin to sounds originally crafted byproducers like DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and LargeProfessor, and demonstrated lyrical wisdomabout when to maintain the original spirit of a song and when toswitch things up. He conjures images of the blocks he grew up on with Detroit State of Mind, recounts a romance with a womanwho had a traumatic childhood on One Love, and uses MemoryLane to take a nostalgic cruise through childhood connectionsbefore the pain from such reflections is too much to bear. Thetechnical proficiency was potent as always, but emotiveness madeElmatic blossom: the wistfulness of his mothers flowing hair beforechemotherapy took it from her, falling in love with a woman he metin the mall, the palpable pride in the peaks and valleys of his city. Itwas a detailed, refined version of the introspection displayed on Outof Focus. Elmatic proved that Elzhi didnt just have prodigious talent he had a city to represent, and he had a story to tell. William E.Ketchum III

Tracklist:
Side A:
A1. The Genesis
A2. Detroit State of Mind
A3. Halftime
A4. Memory Lane
A5. The World Is Yours
Side B:
B1. Represent
B2. Lifes A Bitch (feat. Royce Da 59, Stokley Williams)
B3. One Love
B4. It Aint Hard To Tell
B5. Detroit State of Mind (Remix)

Album Specs:
This special edition reissue is offered for the first time as a single discLP, and includes the bonus track remix of Detroit State of Mind.
The album is packaged in a classic tip-on style jacket, featuring a redesigned cover by Jelle Smid accompanied with a foreword written by renowned music journalist William E. Ketchum III.

Critical Praise:
Who dares remake a classic? Detroit hip-hop mainstay and formerSlum Villager Elzhi, thats who –XXL
Elmatic is a real blessing in times of wildly jumping kids-rappers,rapping over daffy synths-beats and being praised to the skies byclueless Leftfield-nerds. –HHV Mag
From the time Elzhis career began bubbling underground throughhis time on mainstream radio, listeners have known he was one ofthe best lyricists around. -Billboard
Detroit-based emcee Elzhi seems to have tackled one of the mostesteemed LPs rap has seen to date, and turned it into his own. And for once, the end result sounds damn good. –HipHopDX