geezlowdown: Elzhi In My Universe

Elzhi giving it to us

The world is getting smaller: I love it! In it are lots of people to meet and things to. The first time I listened to Slum Village in 2000, I was at home minding my own business, when my brother found me and enthusiastically shoved his headphones over my ears and exclaimed ‘You’ve got to hear this!’

My initial trepidation became an instant rush and I broke out in goose bumps. ‘Raise It Up’, a track from Fantastic Vol. 2, blared in my ears at the point where Baatin was rapping in Arabic. Needless to say I asked my brother to leave his CD walkman (yes, remember the walkman?) with me. I listened to that album for the rest of the night and many, many times after that. From then on, between him and I, we bought copies of any productions by Slum Village or its members.

Fast forward to 13 years later I’m sitting in the backseat of my friend’s car, at a street in Chicago, I look up and in a sea of posters the name Elzhi jumps at me. Not only that but, according to the poster, this Detroit native was set to perform at a venue not far from where I’m staying at the moment.

Aside from arriving way early to the Double Door on Thursday, the treatment my friends and I received was sweet. Nothing short of VIP. Coupled with this I got to watch living legend perform and afterward he casually walks through crowd to take some pictures and sign autographs. I am still stunned by the experience.

Afterward my friend told me how when she mentioned to Elzhi how much we love him South Africa he said had gotten robbed of his electronics and money, taken from his backpack, whilst he was performing in Jozi. She told he should have left his stuff with someone he knew as something like that can happen anywhere. Here I am trying to get used to the fact that people here leave their cars running with keys in the ignition or will leave their personal effects e.g. handbags, cellphones, laptops etc. unattended in public spaces and return to find them untouched. This is how things should be.

Below are pics of the support acts from Thursday night.