“Said, I hope you came prepared,
Life is but a beach chair,
Enjoy the visuals,
Keep the stress minimal,
Seashells for headphones,
Let’s listen to the sounds of the ocean…”
– Eli Black, “Raingame”
Today’s #eMceeCrushMonday – a real “crush” for me – hails for from Queens. Yes, I won’t bite my tongue, when I say that when Eli Black (formerly MC Elijah Black, but he’s doing more than emceeing these days) released a track off of his “Ramen and Rhyming” EP entitled “Pusherman”, it had a Sista MAD crushing on his grown man, intellectual, rhyme skills. But beyond that, after listening to some of Eli Black’s tracks in his catalogue I, I absolutely admire his take control and no holds barred approach to almost any track that he touches (see his “Backseat Freestyle”).
In between releasing a few single tracks, Eli Black has also expanded his growth as an artist as he is also an emcee for the rock band Sibling Band, and he recently released his self produced “Black Winter” EP back in March. “Black Winter” still display a lot of Eli Black’s grittiness as an emcee, but it also takes you on the dark side (“Black Alice”) as well as a nice walk in the park (“Raingame”), reminding the listener that its okay to come up and breathe sometimes. And if you follow his Twitter timeline, you can catch Eli Black in a cypher or two (or five) on the streets of NY. Also, be on the look out for Eli Black’s “Black Winter” LP, BUT, in the meantime the EP is available for you to enjoy and purchase below. So, to one of my bonifide hip hop crush’s, Eli Black, The Greener Side of Hip Hop salutes you as today’s #eMceeCrushMonday (and more)… Salute!
The Greener Side of Hip Hop 