Artist

Elzhi

Data may be outdated

Last updated: 3 weeks ago — Click refresh to get the latest statistics.

A gifted MC and outspoken critic of commercial hip-hop, eLZhi began his career rubbing shoulders with <a href="spotify:artist:4dXRZcf1AdzvwZ9AiRIsmT">Waajeed</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7u6LfVyYpEzMpHLL7jTyvU">Dwele</a>, and the other gifted Detroit artists involved in the city's flourishing late-'90s underground hip-hop scene. After an appearance on <a href="spotify:artist:16L1SS4OancaZUTu3qWqHb">Jay Dee</a>'s groundbreaking 2001 album Welcome 2 Detroit, eLZhi joined the producer's crew, <a href="spotify:artist:1020a42xVklY6c56imNcaa">Slum Village</a>. With <a href="spotify:artist:16L1SS4OancaZUTu3qWqHb">Jay Dee</a> spending more time with other artists, eLZhi became the producer's replacement, beginning with the group's 2002 effort Trinity (Past, Present and Future). Two more albums from the group -- 2004's Detroit Deli (A Taste of Detroit) plus a self-titled effort in 2005 -- appeared before eLZhi began focusing on his solo career with the 2008 release The Preface.

He reunited with <a href="spotify:artist:1020a42xVklY6c56imNcaa">Slum Village</a> for a 2010 LP, Villa Manifesto, although one fellow <a href="spotify:artist:1020a42xVklY6c56imNcaa">Villager</a>, Baatin, died before its release. An array of hip-hop luminaries appeared on the album, including Posdnuos, <a href="spotify:artist:5D7j3YOhscvrld2WzjSIpN">Phife Dawg</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0s9MrSopEoAn8JqwBipgdO">Little Brother</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7u6LfVyYpEzMpHLL7jTyvU">Dwele</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7LSCBbEAuCqQqE0MGszyKl">DJ Babu</a>. Villa Manifesto was eLZhi's last with the group, however. He sprang back into solo action with a mixtape, Elmatic, conceived as a tribute to <a href="spotify:artist:20qISvAhX20dpIbOOzGK3q">Nas</a>' Illmatic; eLZhi wrote all the rhymes while <a href="spotify:artist:6QA1jIAC7i52uJi8jbJDWB">Will Sessions</a> produced. A Kickstarter campaign helped fund his next venture, Lead Poison, released in 2016. ~ David Jeffries, Rovi

Monthly Listeners

59,308