It may seem a little cliché; you know, the old adage that human struggle; whether it’s mental, emotional, or physical can be a catalyst to ignite great art. There is something about the live-wire of raw and pure emotions spilling out onto a page, onto a canvas—or out of a speaker.

Depression and addiction knows no racial, or economic barrier; neither does pain, nor feeling under-appreciated. Globally, people of all colors, creeds and backgrounds deal with these debilitating issues every day and when your spirit is not right it can leave you even more susceptible to these ails.

When you emerge from a struggle, there is the rebirth and with such, this purveyor of the arts emerges anew, not only refocused—but with a renewed vigor to share his story. And this is where we pick things up with Elzhi, as with his new album, Lead Poison, he channels that angst by detailing his battles with all of these very demons—and the road to recovery.

The last few years have not been easy for Elzhi, ominous dark clouds seemed to prevent the light from reaching him. In a very candid moment, he addresses some of those struggles “I’ve been trying to duck this cloud for four years straight. I know I sound crazy, but honestly, I damn near lost my mind. I mean just look at me, on some other sh*t. It’s like I try to shake it, but it always seems to follow me. I mean it catches up when I walk and it chases me when I run; it even hovers over my shoulder when I’m writing. To be honest, I’m surprised I finished the album this fast, but now that the albums about to drop and its finally done, hopefully the cloud will drift off, evaporate and disappear. Or, I’ll finally be able to look up and spot a silver lining.”

The clouds that followed attributed to Elzhi entitling his new and unique concept album Lead Poison (his first since 2011’s Elmatic), as it refers to a medical condition that interferes with a variety of body processes and is toxic to many organs and tissues. Routes of exposure to lead include contaminated air, water, soil and food; and occupational exposure (IE the Music Industry) is the most common cause of lead poisoning in adults. While the album title and theme sound dark, at its core, Lead Poison is about the underdog, depression and recovery. It’s a metaphor about struggle, those who have been thru and are currently in that struggle; essentially, it’s for everyone who is going thru real things in their lives and emerging from it. For Elzhi, he used writing as therapy and a restorative process to drain the poison out of his system—and for the revelations that came to him in doing so. “I went home and started writing, just writing, and I noticed the poison from within me turned to medicine once the words from that pencil the lead was in hit the page” Elzhi states.

It’s been said that good things come to those who wait and we know fans have been waiting! So, without further adieu, Elzhi is proud to present Lead Poison.

Elzhi’s Lead Poison will be released in March via his new label alliance with GLOW365 and will be available for pre-order via iTunes.

Noisey Interview: http://noisey.vice.com/blog/elzhi-parts-the-clouds-and-announces-his-new-album-lead-poison

https://twitter.com/elzhi