If you are a Hip Hop aficionado like myself then you are constantly seeking artists who exemplify the 4 elements of this craft. For those who don’t know, the elements are MCing, DJing, B-Boying and Graffiti writing. In the early 90’s a duo named the Artifacts hailed from Brick City-Newark New Jersey. One half of that group was El Da Sensei and the other was Tame One. In 1994 they released their debut single “Wrong Side of The Tracks.” They soon followed that with the release of the debut album Between A Rock and a Hard Place. With these releases they conquered the underground world with true Hip Hop artistry. In 1996 The Artifacts released The Art Of Facts but due to the inception of flossing tactics, champagne wishes and big-bodied whip dreams, the album was overshadowed by the next wave of Hip Hop. That wave was all about money and not about skills. After the poor response to that album, the Artifacts parted ways and today El Da Sensei is back with a new album entitled Relax, Relate, Release.
Slated for an October 15 drop date on the Brooklyn-based label Seven Heads Recordings, El continues on a righteous path of preserving the craft of pure, untainted Hip Hop. On The album El displays the skills to go with his pure form of Hip Hop from the early days.
On tracks such as “Relax” and “Eternally” El talks about the state of Hip Hop today and what real Hip Hop means to him. Excerpts in between songs highlight the history of the artifacts and the elements of the culture itself. On “So Think Again” El spits about using his tools and skills to build his life in this genre of music. He also touches base on some of the pioneers of the game such as KRS ONE and Rakim. “So Easily” is a smoothed-out jazzy track with a heavy bass line which uses a sample from Rakim’s early single “My Melody.” El flows easily over this joint as well. Other standout tracks include “Frontline” featuring Pharaohe Monch, Prince Po, FT, and Mike Zoot. Also the joint “Whatyawando” with J-Live and Asheru is another banger. Definitley a must-have cd for true lyrical heads. Cop dat.
