Elevation and the Elevated Hip Hop Experience is a hip-hop group that plays all of their own instruments. They are a perfect example of the difference between the mainstream rap you see dominating the video channels and this new hip-hop that is about music, lyrics, and style. EU caught up with J Maestro and Steady Rock from Elevation and the Elevated Hip Hop Experience at Shanty Town during our “Have Your Heard… Hip-Hop” photo shoot. J Maestro is a consummate musician who specializes in keyboards but currently plays bass for the group, since that is where he is needed to complete the sound of the Elevated Hip Hop Experience. Maestro is also the man who originally assembled the group.
EU: Were you instrumental in getting the group together?
JM: Since I was in high school, that’s where the name Maestro came from, I’m a classically trained musician and putting together a band was an idea I had as I was coming up, but I didn’t have the money or know the people to get it together. My cousin is the other half of Elevation.
EU: The Elevated Hip Hop Experience is a full band that plays live, right?
JM: The Elevated Hip Hop Experience is the full band that will back up anybody, you know what I’m saying? So if it was me and the band, it would be Maestro and the Elevated Hip Hop Experience. Elevation is the two-man MC team that is Steady Rock and J Maestro.
EU: How would you describe the sound of the Elevated Hip Hop Experience? Is it more vocal, is it more instrumental?
JM: It’s definitely hip-hop because MCing is at the forefront of everything we do. We do have plans to eventually be a kind of band-for-hire. Where, if you were an MC with a CD or something, you could come to the Elevated Hip Hop Experience and we could try to mold a show with you and perform with you sometime. But right now, we are very vocal about being MCs. It’s me and Steady Rock standing right in front, and a lot of times Mr. Al Pete jumps right up there with us.
EU: Who do you consider your contemporaries, as far as other acts that are kind of doing a similar thing?
JM: This would be an excellent opportunity for me to give a shout out to Voice of the People.
EU: They’re playing Summertime too, aren’t they?
JM: Yeah, they’ll be there. My man Marley, he started a new band in Gainesville called Voice of the People. They have saxophone, bass, guitar, drums and two MCs as well. We met them through Mas Appeal and Urban Synthesis Radio. Their band is awesome, they are very talented. And, although not a contemporary by any means, but more of an influence, is The Roots. We don’t directly take from them, but Black Thought has inspired me as an MC. And their music, the way they bring hip-hop into live instrumentation, is very good. I can’t help but be affected by that.
EU: With Elevation and the Elevated Hip Hop Experience performing at Summertime in the City, what can people expect from the set?
JM: I would say your head bobbing and your hands in the air. We’re into crowd participation a lot. And the name Elevation means a lot to us. We’re about uplifting. We are trying to elevate minds and we do talk about things that are poignant to society in a lot of cases. We try to get you to move and be hype, but its always lyrical and it’s gonna be funky.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
