Artist description hip hop at it's purest form, from conscious to battle to just plain fun.

Music Style political hip hop

Musical Influences common, killah priest, ras kass, ghostface killah, talib kweli, seal, black thought, jeru the damaja, mos def, de la soul, cl smooth, o.c., miles davis, jimi hendrix, john coultrane, davina, dj premier, joey trax, rakim, wise intelligent, chuck d., outkast, and all other underground mc's

Similar Artists artist above

Artist History Khalani Elijah the Lyrical Messiah is the evolution of hip-hop, man and spirituality. Starting in the game around 1989 as Cosmo, he fine tuned his skills in the city of Downtown Bad News,VA. Through high-school he was known as Big Will and in December 1995 he got down with Tremendous Entertainment. One year later in collaboration with Big Hood the Ruckbringa he formed the Forbidden. Under the name Big Will the Lyrical Messiah, Elijah and Big Hood recorded the single"Days of Thunder" b/w "Acts of Homicide”. After trouble in their agreement with Ebony Entertainment, Messiah moved on leaving music and Virginia behind in April of 1997. In Pennsylvania, Messiah cultivated his sound. He became less hostile with his music and chose to focus more on lyrical enlightenment. He changed his name from William Powell to Khalani Jihad Elijah. This name symbolizes his past, present, and future. The name Elijah means Jehovah is Lord thus representing his past, growing up in the baptist church. Jihad means Holy War, which is his present state of mind, and Khalani means destined to rule, which is definitely his future in hip-hop. His urban consciousness as well as his superior lyrical skills are what makes Khalani Elijah one of today’s best underground MCs and through time will be considered one of the greatest to have ever blessed the mic. The release of his new single “Spectator Sport” b/w “Free Your Mind” on his own independent label Forbidden Family Entertainment in corroboration with Starvin Artist Entertainment is due out in Sept. 2000. This will be followed by the release of his long awaited solo debut Lyrical Oasis: Book of Psalms in Dec. 2000. Also check out Lyrical Messiah on Starvin Artists’ second compilation album out now.

Group Members Forbidden Family is infinite, but just to name a few; Da Ruckbringa, Nazereth the Double 7 God, Killah the Arch Angel, Big Chief Chaos, Enjolie, Lazwordz, the Foundation, Avenging Angels, Problem the Illest Emcee, DJ Tremendous, Poor Man's Republic, etc.

Instruments 3rd eye vision, the other 90% of the brain, and blessed assurance

Albums Lyrical Oasis: Book of Psalms

Press Reviews check out the squads page at www.mp3.com/avenging_angels

Additional Info R.I.P. Geneva Kelly & Ally Mae Powell

Location Bad News, VA - USA

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