Tag Archives: james joyce

Video:Elzhi “Halftime”

Detroit’s ELzhi continues with his “Elmatic” project where he raps over various Illmatic instrumentals.

This video is pretty slick, as a live band plays the instrumental of Nas’ Halftime.

Elzhi’s “ELmatic” will be available for free download on 5.10.11 at http://elzhi.com/

Sidenote: I read an interview along time ago with Nas about Halftime. He said he was inspired by a quote in a James Joyce story, called A Little Cloud from Dubliners.
The quote goes something like this:

“Little Chandler remembered (and the remembrance brought a slight flush of pride to his cheek) one of Ignatius Gallaher’s sayings when he was in a tight corner:
“Half time now, boys,” he used to say light-heartedly. “Where’s my considering cap?”

So in a roundabout way, this is James Joyce influenced Hip Hop. Too bad no one has a roundtable of Nas and 3rd Bass discussing Joyce.