“A lot of rappers my age may have afamily, business interests, a whole life outside of rap, but for some reasonwhen they enter the rap realm, they don’t express those sides of themselves,”the Milwaukeerapper says. “They dumb it down, taking one part of themselves and exaggeratingit. We all have a child inside of us, a playful side to us, but they exaggerateit and become a characterization of themselves. They don’t infuse their seriousside into their music, too.”
A 34-year-old husband and father offour, Ellzey says that if there’s a theme to his new album, A Shift in the Wind, “it’s that it’s aman rapping like a man.”
“I’m a grown man, and I’ve been doingthis for a long time,” Ellzey says. “A lot of rappers shy away from that. Theydon’t want to put themselves out there. But if you want listeners to relate toyou, you need to rap honestly about what you’re going through, so I’m going totalk about all of my flaws, all of my strengths, so at the end of the album youfeel like you really know me.”
AShift in the Wind is Ellzey’s first since his lastgroup, Black Elephant, went on hiatus in 2007.
“I didn’t have a lot of money, so Itook my time recording it,” he says. “Especially coming off of Black Elephantand all the success we had, I wanted to make sure my first album was wellthought out and cohesive.”
That meant whittling down the usualgrab bag of collaborators that many solo rappers use to just a handful. Ellzey,who prefers to perform with a live band instead of a DJ, worked closely withproducers Reason, S7Nlee and Edward Cayce to craft the soulful, live sound heenvisioned, for a record that evokes The Roots in its fusion of hip-hop andneo-soul.
Black Elephant was one of the mostprominent Milwaukee rap acts of the last decade, earning press from The Source and emerging as a popular(and profitable) touring act, but Ellzey doesn’t talk about recreating thatsuccess.
“It takes a certain amount of energyand drive to keep a career moving like that,” he says. “And I had that, butthese days I think my energies are better spent elsewhere.”
Instead, he’s become the mentor ofsorts to the mostly 20-something rappers in the Umbrella Music Group, a loosecollective that contains some of Milwaukee’s fastest-rising talent, includingProphetic, who has attracted significant industry attention.
“Because of my experience in BlackElephant, they were asking me questions about what they could do to make it inmusic,” Ellzey says. “I told them they’ve got to develop a system, and carrythemselves professionally and carry themselves like adults. It’s been workingfor them. The industry has responded to their professionalism.
“A lot of these young guys call me ‘bigbro,’ and I appreciate that,” Ellzey continues. “They look up to me, and Iunderstand my window is closing while their window is wide open, and I want toget them in. I don’t want them to be in TheSource when they’re 30 like I was. I want them to be in The Source when they’re 24.”
D.Ellzey plays a release show for A Shift in the Wind at the Stonefly Brewery on Saturday, May15. The $5 cover includes a free download of the album.
