Lost Generation/
Fast paced Nation/
World population confront they frustration/
The principles of true Hip Hop have been forsaken/
It’s all contractual and about moneymakin’/
Pretend to be cats don’t seem to know they limitations/
Exact replication and false representation/
You wanna be a man then stand ya own/
To MC requires skill I demand some shown/
-Black Thought
These are the words that an army of overlooked soldiers in Hip Hop live by. These are also the words that an army of Hip Hop soldiers live against. For some cats the entire game is about contracts and moneymaking. That’s not to say that true lyrical artists don’t want to make money. Some of us just won’t sacrifice our integrity and become (a) copycats.
El Da Sensei is one of those artists who won’t sell you a dream and then dash away in the night. For some of us lyrical prowess is still the nature of why we rhyme. In 1994 a duo emerged out of Brick City- Newark New Jersey- and they exemplified 3 of the 4 core elements of the art known as Hip Hop. That duo was The Artifacts. Comprised of El Da Sensei and Tame One, The Artifacts showed the world the MCing, DJing, and Graffiti writing side of Hip Hop culture. After the release of their debut album Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and the follow-up sophomore effort The Art Of Facts, El and Tame parted ways due to creative differences. Today, El Da Sensei has returned with a new label, a new family and his lyrical ability still intact. He still represents the backpack age of artists who are constantly overshadowed by the mainstream. For those of you who don’t know, the backpackers were artists that carried backpacks (which were) filled with rhyme books, Graffiti tools, clothing and whatever else they deemed necessary to represent the art form of pure Hip Hop.
The new album is titled Relax, Relate, Release and it is one man’s view of the state of Hip Hop today. El says, “Everybody’s uptight, cats are running around wearing nothing but white T-shirts and red. There’s mad tension, I’m just trying to give ’em a better selection of music.” After touring with a slew of artists, El talks about his travels. “I went to Denmark with Ill Advised and Last Emperor, I was in Switzerland, Japan, the West Coast, Colorado and Portland. Most people know me from the Artifacts. I always knew I was gonna come back and do something I just didn’t know it would be by myself, but I’m happy.” El also states, “Even though people know me from The Artifacts there’s not really a chance for a reunion with me and Tame cause we just ain’t on the same page. The chemistry is different.”
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El’s new home is the Brooklyn-based Seven Heads Recordings label. About that change from a major label in the 90’s (Atlantic/Big Beat ) to an independent El offers, “Seven Heads is the best representation for me, Wes Jackson is always right there. It’s a more genuine feeling over here. I met Wes in Philly when I saw Unspoken Heard perform and they was hot so I approached ’em. Wes’ brother is a part of Unspoken Heard and I just wanted to run with them.”
Well, El’s got a genuine team so how does he feel about the non-genuine feel of Hip Hop today? “Cats need to concentrate, remember what started them off. It’s cool that cats wanna do more but they go through finicky people then they can’t come back to where they started from. Everybody is sounding the same, don’t nobody wanna acknowledge cats like G-Rap. Everybody wants to be one of the dudes on TV. Back in the day cats had more style. The beef back then was artists like X-Clan and KRS-One beefing over how much knowledge they had. We need to take it back to that.” El Speaks words of wisdom but don’t get it confused. Nobody is saying that you shouldn’t eat, just eat correctly and align your spirit with you mind. El says his spirit is high. “It might be a little too high but to take your time is the meaning of the truth. If you don’t have the patience and you don’t have it in your blood it don’t work. Right now it’s like I’m livin’ check to check but I’m livin’. I can take care of my family, buy clothes and eat so I’m happy. I just want people to know that I had a lot of passion for this game and what I’m puttin’ into it. I feel like I’m on a mission. I give a fuck about what I’m puttin’ on the street.” Those are the facts of the art and it gets no realer than that.
