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Elzhi (born Jason Powers) is a hip-hop artist from Detroit, Michigan. He records both solo and as part of the group Slum Village with T3. He is known particularly for his complicated rhyme schemes, involving polysyllabic ‘patterns’, internal rhymes and alliteration, as well evocative imagery, simile and metaphor.| Beginning his career in a group called The Breakfast Club with Dwele, Big Tone and Lacks, Elzhi has been recording since as early as 1997, working alot with DJ Houseshoes in 1998 to produce numerous tracks, later assembled as “The Out Of Focus EP” or “Unreleased Solo Project” and leaked across the internet.| Elzhi began to collaborate heavily with Waajeed around 2000. This association gradually brought him closer to Slum Village, to the extent that he was allowed to use beats by Jay Dee (the title then used by J Dilla) on tracks like “Concrete Eyes” and “Days And Nights Analyzin”, and in 2001 appeared on Jay Dee’s solo album Welcome 2 Detroit on the track Come Get It and was invited to join Slum Village for the album Fantastic, Vol. 2 after Jay Dee left, giving Elzhi a full endorsement to carry on in Slum Village.| In 2004 Elzhi released the two disc mixtape Witness My Growth on the record label he created with producer Nick Speed, Libido Sounds. The tracks cover his career from 1997-2004, and include tracks produced by J Dilla, Waajeed, Karriem Riggins and The Alchemist It can be purchased at www.LibidoSounds.com | In 2008 Elzhi released Euro Pass, an album initially only available at live shows which has since been shared across the internet, and in August of the same year released The Preface, produced almost entirely by Black Milk, on Fat Beats Records. The Preface met with very positive reviews and is considered by many Hip-Hop fans to be one of the best releases in 2008, despite small sales figures. |
