El Da Sensei

 As a member of the Newark, New Jersey group Artifacts alongside Tame One and DJ Kaos, El Da Sensei is responsible for some bona fide 90s hip hop classics, including "C'mon with the Git Down” and "Wrong Side of da Tracks," the group’s homage to the art of graffiti. After Artifacts split up following their second album 'That’s Them' in 1997, El went on to have a prolific solo career, releasing nearly a dozen projects and consistently touring the globe on his own as well as with Polish hip hop duo The Returners. El’s a true working class emcee, and his dedication to his craft as a writer and as an independent artist has granted him a pretty unique experience that we uncover throughout this conversation. We also talk a little bit about the impromptu Artifacts reunion in 2009 that brought El and Tame together and set the stage for their upcoming third Artifacts album, produced entirely by Buckwild and carrying the torch for DJ Kaos, who unfortunately passed away in 2019 ; the album is scheduled to be released later this year. In this episode, we discuss:

"Speakin'" ('Relax, Relate, Release', 2003)

"Live Noise" feat. Akrobatik (w/ The Returners, 'GT2: Nu World', 2010)

"Wrong Side of Da Tracks" (Artifacts, 'Between a Rock and a Hard Place', 1994)

"It Takes Two" (w/ Sadat X, 'XL,' 2018)

"Money" feat Roc Marciano and Reef the Lost Cause ('The Money EP', 2009)

"Got Fire" (w/ The Returners, 'Global Takeover', 2008)

"31 Bumrush" (Artifacts, 'That's Them,' 1997)

El Da Sensei:

instagram.com/senseifromnj

cantknocktheshuffle.com

questionshiphop.com

instagram.com/seandammit 

twitter.com/seandammit 

Email: cantknocktheshuffle@gmail.com

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