Elzhi
The Preface

Release Date: 2008 | Tracklist

I’d imagine the years leading up to the 2008 release of The Preface to be reasonably frustrating for Midwestern rapper Elzhi. For quite a while, roughly from 1999 to 2002, hip hop artist Jason Powers used his talent mostly for collaborations, mostly as a session rapper, and he never really getting a chance to spit his flow throughout an entire record. This eventually changed in 2002 when he joined esteemed Detroit group Slum Village, which was a group Elzhi’s stayed with to this day. Unfortunately, he had quite a pair of shoes to fill: he was essentially replacing wunderkind producer J Dilla, who’d quit the group for a solo career. Elzhi held up his part in Slum Village from then up until The Preface, but he was of course subject to unfortunate comparisons.

My point is that toiling in the underground with absolutely no real success for that long would’ve had to be frustrating for Elzhi. That’s why it’s an utter delight that The Preface, a record Elzhi has undoubtedly been ready to make for almost a decade, is so damn good. Combining crisp soul beats mostly courtesy of producer/genius Black Milk with Elzhi’s urgent flow and confident braggadocio, The Preface is a poignant album that’s a showcase for both of its main unstoppable performers.

It’s hard to tell if Elzhi or Black Milk rocks it more throughout these sixteen tracks. The production here is admittedly perfect, and Black Milk is obviously the force behind it: he mans the boards for 13 of the album’s sixteen tracks. His beats are definitely reminiscent of other Detroit icons, especially of J Dilla’s work, but they carry flair of their own. Milk mostly concerns himself with soul samples from his city’s past, and the man does a good job with making these samples sound equally imbedded in Detroit’s past and modern enough to not sound dated. Particular highlights include the murky funk of “Fire Remix”, which sounds intentionally lo-fi and nostalgic and features crisp instrumentation courtesy of natural-sounding guitars and pianos. Other highlights, such as the bubbling trumpets of “Yeah” and the thudding percussion of “Hands Up”, are as equally impressive.

But this album doesn’t have Black Milk’s name plastered on its front, even though The Preface’s production could act as a teaser to his sophomore outing. No, this is obviously Elzhi’s time to shine, and shine he fuckin’ does. His traditional flow--no real quirks, nothing too different, just straightforward vocals that accompany his deft lyricism--is rather compatible with the rule-bending production. Elzhi sounds like a mix of Common’s confidence and Nas’s slippery lyricism, but to describe his flow as a portmanteau of other rappers’ doesn’t really do Elzhi justice. It’s easier, and more accurate, to simply say that Elzhi basically does a perfect job throughout the whole of The Preface. His impressive flow mixed with his creative lyricism--which mostly deals with, as I already mentioned, brag, but Elzhi’s one-track mind doesn’t prevent him from dropping some fresh verses on almost every track--is at its peak here. Elzhi also manages to make his presence felt throughout the entire album, which, in itself, is a positive considering how so many other rappers of Elzhi’s ilk are so completely forgettable.

The Preface isn’t a perfect record. Guest spots from Detroit’s finest, such as Guilty Simpson and Royce da 5’9, are disappointing, and some obviously unworthy collaborators (Phat Kat, ahem) really bring otherwise brilliant tracks down. Another problem is the album’s sameness: The Preface is rather long, and while there’s no actual “filler”, as mostly every song is a force in its own right, many tracks seem to blend together throughout a full listen. But this and some lazy efforts from lesser artists don’t prevent The Preface from being a formidable debut, and, looking back, one of 2008’s best albums. It certainly dwarfs Black Milk’s excellent Tronic as the best hip hop work of last year, and for that reason alone, The Preface deserves a definite listen.

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3.9 excellent

Rank: #146 for 2008