where do i even start with eligh? he is one of the dopest rappers to ever grab a mic. i’m not gassing up anything with that statement. to me, eligh was always andre four-thousand with the flow. nobody in the rap game has ever been able to touch his flow, delivery, cadence, breath control, and style. micah nine comes to mind as who maybe comes close. and it’s so fitting that a teenage eligh got to go see micah and the fellowship rip the good life cafe stage in los angeles during early nineties. freestyle fellowship are the most important hip hop group of all time yet they remain a california underground hip hop gem. remember when they battled the wu with common sense on their side??? whaaaaaaaa???
eligh comes from the school of ellay khule aka the rifleman. but you don’t know rifleman do you? blast off, lift off when i twist off the cap, the love of my is to rap, the love of your life in my lap… ellay khule will forever be one of my favorite rappers of all time. here’s rifleman at the good life cafe in the early nineties in los angeles, ca.
a young eligh took notes on the pharcyde’s of the world as he was putting together his artistry and defining who he would be in this suddenly massive rap scene in the nineties. don’t forget, in the late nineties, white peeps were few and far between at underground hip hop shows. same thing goes with rappers on stage. you rarely saw a white rapper and when you did, he would almost get extra props in the underground scene because people knew how hard they were trying to break through. nowadays, rap is worldwide. back then though? it stayed suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper underground.
chopping was the style of rap that ellay khule and eligh mastered back in the day. cve on the chopping tip were crazy too. scarub’s chop was like an underwater exploration of the great reef. aceyalone’s flow out of this world… micah… jupiter… but fam… p.e.a.c.e. live? i used to have this video on vhs and study it constantly. dude was not only chip chopping the flow but then also continuing the flow while he stopped rapping??? fam….
nowadays you hear some rae sremmurd and feel like it originated out of los angeles. you hear bone thugs and you can feel like it originated in california. cali was giving hip hop new style after new style… it was crazy…. listen to this tho….
when i listen to eligh in twenty twenty four, i still hear and see that kid who would sit on the stage with the coolest beanie on just vibing… then when it was his turn to rap he would get us, absolutely murder it, and then sit back down… i was enamored… i always wanted to be like eligh…
the three melancholy gypsies are the greatest story never told… but that’s a story for another day… well… nah… 3MG will always be murs, scarub, and eligh. they were students of the california underground hip hop game and they were like this secret group that also went by names like the penguins and righteous bros… i would hear early scarub tapes and be reminded of the west coast hip hop forefathers before them. scarub was just different… murs was just different… eligh? different…
i saw that eligh has a new album coming out and checked the tracklisting… then i checked out his content… then i checked out his art… then i heard his verses on tracks like this and i’m like, oooooooooooooookkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy… speaking of cali rap underground, the living legends sound like ninety nine on this one.
when i listen to fellowship it’s all about cali… when i listen to 3MG it’s cali… when i listen to people under the stairs it’s cali… fashawn? cali… blu? cali….the alchemist… evidence… the grouch… icecoldbishop… wait… icecoldbishop? yeah… you heard his flow? he’s like twenty twenty four’s version of micah nine, ellay khule, and eligh… from mid city too so you know he was watching murs’ moves growing up in the scene… bishop out here rappin with bart oatmeal… still don’t think i’m strapped check the diaper bag???? crazy.
i just love emcees who bend their thoughts into shapes not yet imagined… only a few rappers can do it and they’re all from california. this story is about los angeles… it’s about san diego… it’s about the bay… it’s about fresno, hanford, inland empire, big bear, sacramento… ALL OF CALIFORNIA FAM…. this is our wave… handle it right and we’re all winning… real talk…. here’s the new eligh track… it’s fire… just like he’s been for damn near thirty years…. fire. tap in with the fam… we cookin….
if you like this track, peep the spotify california underground rap playlist below…