Like most artists, starting out in the music industry it's rarely an easy ride. From writing lyrics in his high school days to forming a hip hop collective in college, becoming a producer seemed like a natural progression for Shane. "I wanted to do a project and I had ideas for songs I'd wanna do in my head but I didn't really hear those kinda beats out there. So I just said 'Fuck it, I'll make them myself." And make them he did. His debut album The Push which was produced entirely by him in his LA apartment displays Shane's intriguing uniqueness as an artist with it's electro, funk, jazz and futuristic sound. He attributes this to his exposure to such an array of musical styles growing up with his mother. "Because I listen to such a wide range of stuff, I'll pull from all those influences. I feel that even though you may not have heard it from me yet, I got it somewhere. There's not a style I think I can't do, and if not, I'll teach myself."
After the release of Shane's highly introspective album The Push, one Shane calls "70% personal experiences" but not one all hip hop fans may easily relate to, Shane decided to take a new direction for his upcoming release I Can Do Better. "The therapy was done, I kinda put those things behind me and I was like "Alright. In order to get to the next level, I gotta make songs that are more universal. They're still hopefully intelligent and topical; I don't think I'd ever make a stupid record - even if it's about partying or girls, I don't think it'd be stupid, ever."
Such a refreshing statement to make, especially since today's hip-hop scene is loaded with gimmicks, dance crazes and the overuse of auto-tune. But that's nothing the music industry hasn't seen before. "Our memory spans are so short. Nobody seems to remember that in the fuckin' seventies, there were cheesy flashy pants disco acts that were played on the radio. But those muh'fuckas are gone a year later, you know what I mean?" In such simple logic, Shane unweaves the "Hip-hop is dead" complex that many fans seem to have. For years the entire music business has seen the influx of dreadful artists and acts who pop up on the scene every once and while. Why do you think one hit wonders are even called such? It's what separates the good from the bad; the marathon runners from the quick sprinters. Though a lucrative option, Shane makes it clear what he wants to attain as a hip-hop artist. Using British singer/song-writer Adele as an example, he notes how timeless her music is - a quality that few artists in this day and age possess. "You listen to Adele's shit, she's not going anywhere. That's longevity, right there." In an industry where an artist's career span could be shorter than Amber Rose's hair, longevity is not a word usually associated with this generation's crop of stars. But to Shane, it's all part of the bigger picture. "As far as the state of hip-hop's concerned, you need that balance, because the truth is, the more they put out that shit, the more it makes me sound better. You always need that balance, I don't really get fazed by it."
And this is where Shane's sophomore DJ Booth.net and Flüd Watches hosted release I Can Do Better comes in. Tracks such as Bo Jackson, I Love You (Kinda) and The Night Is Young have received rave reviews from listeners but be sure to hold your horses with the futile comparisons to Drake and J.Cole. "You ain't gotta say who I look just like/I'm not with the Roc and I don't rep Sprite." warns the LA MC on the track I Love You (Kinda). But it was DJ Critical Hype cut track When We Were Kings that garnered the most attention. Using excerpts from various famous interviews (Muhammed Ali, Jay-Z, 2Pac and Geoffrey Canada) the four-minute track which he deems as "an homage to classic hip-hop" sees Shane vent about a multitude of issues, showcasing true passion in each verse. "Listening to K.R.I.T Wuz Here kinda inspired me to write When We Were Kings the way that I did - there's this one track on there where the beat drops off at the end (Children of The World) and he's just going acapella and it's so effective... You sorta need to stop and be like 'actuallly, this is what I'm saying, this is what I have to say' then people can really relate to it." No doubt people caught the message - so much so that his impassioned track earned the title of "classic" amongst some. Not bad for a newcomer. "When the album comes out I need it [to have the same success as When We Were Kings], cause a lot of people hit me up about it." The album has many more features than his previous; Playboy Tre, Julius Francis and Ahmad all make an appearance with Jason Caesar on the smooth cut The Night Is Young. There's no way that this album cannot make a splash this year.
With attention comes hard work and Shane knows that there's still a long way to go. "If I'm scrolling through a blog and I see "Joe Blow" or Eminem or Big K.R.I.T... Obviously I'm gonna pick the Eminem record first and then I'm gonna pick K.R.I.T. Then maybe, if I'm just getting round to it, I'll click "Joe Blow"... but I'm "Joe Blow" right now! I need people to start clicking my shit first!" And what better way to get people clicking than performing at SXSW, the annual film and music festival held in Austin, Texas. Having previously opened up for hip-hop greats such as Talib Kweli and Common, Shane is no stranger to the stage. "The shows are what connect the people [to the artist]. I mean obviously you may have fans or whatever but at a show there could be fifty or sixty people who don't know your music, d'ya know what I mean? You need that face-to-face connection to advance stuff."
With his music career taking off, we can only expect bigger and better things from the LA wordsmith and that could very well be in the form of Earth, Wind and Fire's upcoming release. Having befriended singer/songwriter and rapper Ahmad while out in Los Angeles who was writing for Jennifer Hudson at the time, the beatmaker's Etta James soul sampled track wound up making it into the hands of the funk and soul legends and the rest is history. "My first major producing credit is for Earth, Wind and Fire so we find out in a couple of weeks if the song made it on the album. I definitely feel things coming together." Well, that in itself is pretty major. I guess doing better is just his thing?
DOWNLOAD I Can Do Better here
Follow Shane Eli on Twitter here and check out his website.
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