Retrospective: Roots Manuva

Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me

Way back in early April I had Witness by Roots Manuva as my song of the week, this June I bought the whole album and thought it would be a nice idea to visit the material again. The things that I loved about Witness, it's bumbling, heavy, sloppy, electronic beats and odd offbeat (usually nonsensical, at least to me) rhyming, were things that I really enjoyed about songs throughout the album, but weren't mixed as well together. Join the Dots with Chali 2na from Jurassic Five (who I really like as part of Jurassic Five) didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the album. It lacked the stumbling quality, and like Chali 2na's rapping style was very clear and almost forceful. Trim Body (or Kicking the Cack, as he may not actually be saying words) I loved even though it really didn't have that same clear beat or any rapping at all, instead it just had that slippery, funky electronic sound that fits so well in the album.

New Release: Elzhi - The Elmatic

Elzhi - The Elmatic

This album has gotten a lot of press recently and it is absolutely deserved. If there's one thing i hate it's jumping on a bandwagon and just bumping up what other people have said without any original thought. That being said, believe what you hear, this is special.

The Elmatic, is not just a tribute, it's an update, a reworking, and a cover. It takes every track off of the Illmatic, a classic album for any genre, and rerecords them with a live band, and Elzhi rapping over them in a similar style, rhythm, or beat pattern to the original. No one is here to say that Elzhi is a better rapper than nas, or that this album is better than the original, but this album is great in its own way! Performing these songs with a live band gives it a much fresher feel, and Elzhi does a wonderful job emulating Nas while still telling his own story and leaving his own mark on the aalbum.

Halftime, one of my absolute favorites off the original, gets a spectacular rendition by Elzhi and his backing band, but also represents the two albums well. It sounds different in the best way possible. I just love both of them so much. Nas rapping, it's better, and more memorable ("You couldn't catch me in the streets without a ton of reefer//That's like Malcolm X, catchin the Jungle Fever"), but I LOVE Elzhi's smooth quick agile delivery. See and compare for yourself. The Original. The Update.

I don't think I even mentioned the best part. It's Free. All of it. It's not a pay as much as you want, its just free. I'm trying to find someway to buy it, because I want to support Elzhi now, but so far as i can tell this is free mp3 download only.

If you didn't click on any of the download links here it is.