El Da Sensei

El Da Sensei will forever be remembered as one-half of the Artifacts, the unfortunately short-lived New Jersey crew who had time to record a couple of albums and bring us the classic "Wrong Side of The Tracks” single. The fact that after a decade since debuting he’s still known for his very early work, probably needs some readjustment because El has released plenty if not intermittent solo product. A follow-up to his debut solo salvo 2002’s Relax, Relate, Release, The Unusual convincingly makes this argument. El Da Sensei has lost none of the clarity and precision of his flow and through his no-nonsense approach he continues to grow as an MC seeing innovative rhyme concepts to fruition while staying true to old-fashioned mic wrecking. Less introspective than his previous solo effort, The Unusual benefits greatly from its very strong production team who provide a variety of ear-raising beats. Seattle’s Jake One continues his hot streak with the military funk of "Blow Shit Up” and teams with Toronto’s own Saukrates on the bounce of "That’s How It Goes.” The collaboration with DITC’s O.C. ("Nuttin to Lose”) is the only disappointment here, but on his most cohesive effort to date there’s enough evidence here to finally consider El Da Sensei a solo artist.