From The Underground: Black ELement

Straight out of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, emcee Black ELement contacted me about a feature. I’m picky about the unsigned cats we put on here but this guy filled all the prerequisites for my submission policy. Black sent me “I Can’t Call It”, the first single from his upcoming LP, A Major Minority. Produced by Ryan Durkin, the song sees BE flexing some supreme lyrical ability over knocking drums. I was impressed enough to immediately look the kid up. You can listen to some older tracks at his label’s site, Empire Records.

Download: Black ELement – Can’t Call It (prod. Ryan Durkin)

Here’s the bio from his MySpace:

Labelling has become common in Hip Hop, audiences classify MCs after one song and place them in one of two categories: mainstream or underground. Black Element can only be described as otherground; something refreshingly melodic, and just as much entertaining as he is innovative.

In the age of the mailman and the guy at McDonalds claiming to be rappers, the MC is no longer taken as seriously as he used to. Black Element is an MC who is the true definition of what an MC should be. Someone who cannot be defined in a couple of tracks, someone who desires more from his listeners in order to fully grasp his mission. Black Element is not afraid to use all the different colors on his palette to paint on his canvas. He is not afraid to take his music in any direction, and feels that Hip Hop has to grow as an art form by taking chances.

Growing up in middle class America in New Jersey, Element found Hip Hop through his older brother who introduced him to the likes of Nas, The Roots, and A Tribe Called Quest just to name a few. Black Element then relocated to the suburbs of Boston for the remainder of his adolescence where he focused on perfecting his craft.

In 2002, he met Talib Kweli who left him with the simple message “Do whatever you feel, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing”. Ever since then, Black Element has been living by the credo “Do You” and has not looked back. Now he looks forward to change Hip Hop one listener at a time.