El Benzo Chops With ‘Karate’
Gun violence has been a major red button issue in the United States for years what with numerous school shootings, mass shootings, and accidental gun deaths. One particular concern is violent subculture that formed in the wake of the drug war, where gun violence is more common in the United States than virtually any other industrially developed nation.
As a result of this, a lot of young black males are often the perpetrators and victims of gun violence. Just ask El Benzo. He was shot point black range in his chest in a suburb in New Jersey during an attempted robbery. He lost several litres of blood and had to undergo emergency surgery to save his life.
“Music helped me get out of a dark place…like I said, I always knew I had the talent but I honestly didn’t like the hype that comes with everything. Music helped me get everything off my mind that I was going through, just the pain. Music coexists with emotions, and you can’t be scared to embrace life because of outside perceptions, so right now, I choose to do music,” he told DancehallMag.
In the wake of his near-fatal shooting, El Benzo learned some hard lessons in the tough classroom of life.
“I lost all my money. I had to understand materialistic sentiments aren’t worth anything. I had to find a way to make a true living for my family. I had to wait two months to go and get bullets removed from my body, but during that time, I was still recording and working and writing lots of songs,” he said.
El Benzo said that hip-hop has been maligned as an aggravating factor in these kinds of crimes, but many times it is giving a window into American culture’s broader problematic history with guns, and the ugly underbelly of institutional racism.
“Police try to paint the picture out like I was a suspect in a situation where I was clearly victim. The cops tried to hit me with a lawsuit and I had to end up getting a lawyer .. the case is still open though,” he said
El Benzo believes that people who theorize hip-hop should be held accountable for themes such as the glorification of violence and trigger-pulling should also recognize that the art is also a prism that reflects some very grim realities.
“My music is a mirror I hold up to society,” he said.
Since his brush with death, El Benzo has been logging heavy hours in the studio. El Benzo is overwhelmed at the positive feedback to his single, Karate, recorded for local label, Chase Mills Records.
“Everybody loves this song because it’s different. Karate is my first dancehall song, speaking about my Jamaican roots. I got a lot of friends that aren’t Caribbean so my goal is to make people understand and learn from my music through both genres, and this song on the Green Dot rhythm is my chance to blow up,” the artiste whose real name is Lorenzo Gayle, said.
“The future is looking real bright right now, I am grateful…God really has a different plan for me.”
The single was released on all digital platforms in February, and he posted the song to his Instagram page and the comments came flooding in. Now he is fast-tracking plans to come to Jamaica to shoot a video for the project.
Born in the US, he grew up in New Jersey where he attended Bloomfield Tech. He returned to Jamaica during Summer holidays and fell in love with the island’s vibrant music and culture. After graduating high school, he attended trade school where he studied business management/entrepreneurship. However, music remained his first love.
“My style of music is a blend, my approach was just trying to create my own sound by combining two styles of music that I grew up on, and my producrs on Chase Mills Records made it a reality,” he said.
He plans to release an EP later this year and producers have started to send beats his way. Other songs include ‘Jewish Lawyer’ and ‘Humble Yute’. He released a rap single called Demonstrate with visuals last month.