Black Elephant

1) BLACK ELEPHANT is an indie pop band from Los Angeles, California, and falls under the indie pop, minimalist, lo fi sub genres. Felipe started out in Orange County punk band A.M. In 2010 but relocated to Los Angeles. It started as a recording project but after adding Samuel and Ricardo it became a band. The group regularly plays the DIY community organized venue The Smell. http://www.facebook.com/blackelephantmusic

http://www.facebook.com/blackelephantmusic


2) Influenced in equal parts by old school soul, social activism and hardcore Hip-Hop, Black Elephant shares a unique vision for what hip-hop can be and how rich it can sound. Accompanied by a 5 piece instrumental ensemble they blend a rich love of Hip-Hop with a neo-soul aesthetic.
Released in August of 2002 Black Elephants debut CD Hiatus, acclaimed by critics and fans alike, was the beginning of an adventurous 24 months for the burgeoning group. Opening for De La Soul and Jurassic 5 was just the start of a year that included almost 100 shows. Performances at the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, Universities throughout the Great Lakes, and a tour with national poet Jessica Care Moore only helped solidify their status as one of Milwaukee's hardest working Hip-Hop bands.
After two years of hard work and nearly 4,000 albums sold, Black Elephant released their sophomore CD, Eat This Album on July 27th 2004. An ear-pleasing mix of soul and hip-hop, the group uses food as a metaphor for spiritual sustenance and for music itself. A year later in July of 2005 the group put out its first mixtape, Burn This Album. The mixtape was provided free to the public via parties, shows, and their official website, with 1,000 distributed and over 3,000 downloads to date.
Element, writer, singer, rapper, poet and songwriter, describes herself as "an artist 24/7." Element made her national solo debut on the soundtrack to the feature film, Deliver Us From Eva starring rap artist LL Cool J and actress Gabriel Union, released February 7th 2003.
In addition to movie soundtracks Element's voice is featured in a Mcdonalds commercial which starts airing in February (her 2nd commercial for Mcdonalds). Her onstage persona ranges from an angelic melodic line to some rapid-fire rhymes of her own in a confident, socially-focused style reminiscent of Queen Latifah or Lauryn Hill.
Rapper Dameon Ellzey, is a veteran of the mic and one the most well known and respected lyricists in the Midwest. His lyrical prowess is only matched by his performance intensity; Ellzey works the ground between Element and the band with a more aggressive posture, leaning into his mic like a linebacker looking to take down Brett Favre.
When he's not delivering rapid-fire rhymes onstage, Ellzey stays active working local political campaigns and voter registration drives.
It's the onstage chemistry between the vocalists, the dynamic of a tight backing band and the group's dedication to intelligent but entertaining song-craft that makes Black Elephant one of the most heralded unsigned Hip-Hop bands in the Midwest.
Black Elephant is a WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) nominee for Best Hip-Hop act, the 2005 runner-up for Group of the Year in Unsigned Music Magazine, and will be featured in the "Off the Radar" section of The Source Magazine.