Hip Hop Habit: ELEMENT
posted in: Features • Urban
Against a backdrop that resembles the upbringing of so many prolific rappers, ELEMENT (Jeremiah Sojourney) grew up pushing paper and pen as a therapy to cope with his troubled reality. Emerging from a household split between music and abuse, Sojourney has mended the two most powerful influences in his life to create a diverse palette of rhymes ” sometimes life affirming, other times vicious, all the time radiating with fervency.
Mic 2 Tha Thrizzoat is an uplifting track that deems anything possible, and although the beat itself never really evolves out of the same 4 bar loop, Sojourney’s enthusiasm and compelling story keep heads nodding and minds imagining: My background is mad foul/ often that I black out/ tryin’ to forget memories that made me what I am now. At times his voluminous verbiage sounds a bit too much like the rambling of a motivational speaker, but who’s to dog him for that after what he’s overcome? And, judging by some of his not-so-cryptic lyrics, he still has overcoming left to do: I’m my biggest enemy/ infected like a dope fiend. Radio rocks like a sedated Rage tune, as Sojourney’s fighting spirit shovels through the ominous rock beat to vilify the rotten society he happens to inhabit: Too many rappers run around like boys/ shinin’ all them diamonds makin’ all that noise/ too many women wear too much make up/ with weaves in they dome like they must be made up. This crusade of sorts sheds light on a side of ELEMENT unforeseeable after enjoying the jubilant sounds of Mic 2 Tha Thrizzoat ” one flush with animosity and obstinacy: Radio won’t even play my shit/ the media won’t even take that risk/ I rip mics on some k9 shit/ I’m too real for the place I live “ all the while challenging others to stand up: who’s realer than us?
Whether making a name for himself at the World Rap Championships through his freestyle skills or signing to Babygrande Records (home to underground heavy hitters Jedi Mind Tricks) with his crew Custom Made, Sojourney has let no opportunity to improve his game slip by unnoticed. ELEMENT has recently released his solo debut entitled Great Expectations, a 16 track full length album replete with the same passionate triumph and venomous commentary you would expect. Listen to his creations in the player below, and speak your mind in the comments!