| Biography |
|
|
Elusive aka Michael Black was born in Nambour Hospital, June 27, 1989. His family, consisting of his mother, father and older sister, were living in Caloundra at the time. This is where he spent the majority of the early stages of his life. Moving from house to house fairly regularly presented some detachment from a solid foundation to grow and develop, however it also provided new and exciting challenges and experiences. He took part in many sporting and athletics events, and learnt much knowledge through reading, and from the (albeit mis-)education system at Caloundra State School (though he spent his first year of school at Golden Beach State School). In Year 4, his family moved to Noosa, where the next stage of his life began.
In what was originally called 'The Sanctuary', and later renamed 'Noosa Bushlands', Elusive and his family spent the next few years in a gradually-increasing financial struggle. He attended Noosaville State School, where the attempted-indoctrination of his mind was continued. He excelled in (what he thought was) his education, achieving near-perfect grades, and taking part (and receiving several commendations) in many national tests. He also continued his sporting interests, under the guidance of his father, and received many medals and trophies in such events as swimming, athletics, cross-country running, triathlons and surf lifesaving, among others.
After further financial strain, his family was forced to sell their home and move into a rental property in Noosa Junction. The new house brought with it some new challenges. Having lived primarily in housing estates previously, and being used to having a lot of children the same age around, the new lifestyle came as quite a shock. He had to find new ways to entertain himself, as there was little else to do in the area they were living. During this time, Elusive's interest in computers was also bought into the limelight. He seemed to have an intuitive knowledge of their workings, and was quickly learning new uses for them.
Shortly after this, his parents divorced. The news was hard to deal with at first, but in focusing on the positives (although few) of the situation, he was able to cope as best he could. He moved into a small unit in Noosa Sound with his father, while his sister and mother moved into a housing-commission (public housing) house also in Noosa Junction. Many factors were involved in deciding which parent he wanted to live with, but in the end it came down to what was best for his future, and with the intention (at the time) of being a superstar athlete, he ended up with his father. Having also graduated primary school a short time later, he then began high school at Good Shepherd Lutheran College.
This next stage of Elusive’s life was a difficult one. Following difficulties getting along with his father, he moved back to his mother’s house. This, combined with the pain of dealing with his parent’s recent divorce, and the difficulties adjusting to a new school, and the transition into high school (along with other factors) led to his severe depression. Having no interest in speaking to councilors or psychologists, he was prescribed (increasing dosages) of anti-depressants, which inevitably led to an even deeper level of depression, and increased withdraw from society.
His sporting stopped completely after leaving his father’s, and although he continued performing well in school, his interest in furthering his education diminished rapidly. Everything around him seemed meaningless. It was at this point he began his journey into philosophy, and self-discovery. True knowledge became his life’s purpose, taking the place of the “fact-repetition” style of learning in place in schools.
A few weeks into Year 11, Elusive made the decision to drop out of school. It just felt wrong to him. The constant suppression of conscious learning, combined with the forceful way in which this “official” version of history is imposed upon developing minds is unquestionably the most outrageous form of brain-washing and mental manipulation possibly ever seen on this planet. And we call it education.
Nevertheless, after dropping out, Elusive took a few months break from everything in an attempt to clear his head. During this break, he improved his computer skills a great deal, learning graphics and web design, web programming, video editing, and effects, as well as touching on many other areas such as 3D animation.
Soon after, his mother chose to return to England to spend some time with her mother during her old age. Elusive was given the choice of staying in Australia with his sister (whom he was not on good terms with) or going to live in England for a while with his mother. Though it was a very difficult decision to make, he decided to go to England as well. It was difficult for him to leave his friends, and the life he had come to know; but he couldn’t bear the thought of living alone with his sister.
In England, Elusive experienced an almost “virtual” reality effect. Being somewhat ‘injected’ into a world, so different from the one he’d known his entire life, it felt (at first) to Elusive like his actions didn’t really matter. It seemed there would be no consequence whatsoever of any of his actions, to the life he’d built in Australia. For this reason, he started drinking heavily; to the point he was consuming cases of alcohol a night with his friends. He spent most of his time working at Warrington Gemini Retail Park’s McDonalds, though he also did some freelance web design work.
After spending 6 months in England, Elusive’s mother decided it was time for her to return to Australia. Given his steady employment, and having long forgotten the depression inherent in his life in Australia, Elusive opted to stay in England living with his grandmother, though the coming months would see her health decrease even more rapidly than it had been. Almost a year after his mother left, Elusive finally decided he couldn’t handle it anymore. As enjoyable as his time in England had been, he still felt there was just too much missing for him to continue enjoying it.
Upon returning to Australia, though happy to see his friends, and to be enjoying the Australian lifestyle once again, Elusive slowly slipped back into depression. He stopped drinking so much, and once again became socially withdrawn. Soon, his life was set to make a huge change in direction, and he had no idea whatsoever it was about to happen.
On an average day, not unlike any other in Noosa, Elusive was introduced to marijuana via two long time friends. Though he had been against drugs his entire life, the amount of negativity Elusive had seen in his lifetime, he was prepared to try anything to find happiness. From the moment that smoke tickled the inside of his throat for the first time, one thing was clear in his head - everything he’d come to believe about the world and reality was wrong – and it was this single moment that redirected Elusive’s life, resulting in the anti-politically-fuelled views and opinions expressed in his music today.
The next few years of his life reside in his mind primarily as a hazy, blurry, random scatter of events. He worked in a few different jobs for very short times. He returned to England for a month, spending some time travelling through France, Belgium and eventually to Amsterdam with his friends. He studied many subjects, including astrotheology, quantum physics, neuro-linguistic programming, cold reading, Jewish Kabbalah, ancient mythology, religion, secret societies, UFO’s, social dynamics, and conspiracy theories. He continued smoking, falling deeper into the vicious cycle that is addiction, but the one thing that stood out most during this time was his transition from an unmotivated drug addict, to an aspiring rap artist (that also happens to smoke pot).
Having already spent many years being a fan of hip hop, and rapping to his favorite hits by artists such as Eminem, Tech n9Ne, Tupac, Chino XL and Immortal Technique, Elusive quickly picked up the art of lyricism. Even his earliest writings displayed signs of rhyme structure, multi-syllable rhymes (multi’s) and a certain distinguishable rhythm to them, seen only in the true greats of the hip hop world. Once he was satisfied with his writing abilities, he then spent a great deal of time developing his vocals and forming an identifiable, unique sound.
Convinced there was little else to improve upon in his rhyming, Elusive began performing his rhymes for his friends, and at parties and social gatherings. He received generally good responses from his listeners, but he soon realized there was still a gap between the level of artist he wanted to be, and the level he was currently at. He began attending the hip hop workshop ‘The Cypha’ (hosted by Kleen Beats) with his friend and fellow emcee DMB. The two later formed a rap collaboration known as 2 Kings.
At the hip hop workshops’; Elusive was soon seeing the other side of music. Production, mixing, recording, mastering, distribution. Though they were terms he’d heard before, and vaguely understood their meaning, he had never really understood how to do them, or that people were already doing them from their homes in mass numbers. With the financial assistance of his mother (whom he was very grateful for), he purchased a basic recording studio setup. This consisted of a Rode NT1-A microphone, Behringer mixer, compressor and preamp, Behringer studio monitor speakers and subwoofer, Edirol USB audio interface and a Behringer 61 key USB MIDI keyboard. He already had a fairly powerful computer, but he did also upgrade his monitor, and increase his hard drive space for storing of audio files.
He then spent the next year learning everything he could about music production, from beat making, mixing, vocal recording and processing to music theory, mastering, and so on. He was immersed in music. He wanted to learn everything he could about every possible subject that might come up during the production of his first album; however 6 months into his learning process he and DMB suffered a tremendous loss. One of his hard drives inexplicably died, with no possible way to retrieve any data off it. And even more unfortunately, this hard drive was the one storing all of their lyrics and beats. Elusive estimates he lost three 2 Kings albums worth of lyrics, nearly four solo albums worth of lyrics, as well as numerous verses, and all accompanying instrumentals.
Though devastated from the loss, Elusive (in an attempt to be positive) preferred to think of the whole experience as his education in the lead up to where he was now. Everything he’d written previously was, in his eyes, steps along the pathway to success, and he was nowhere near the end of the road yet. Eager to continue the momentum he had previously, he spent the next few months writing a staggering 50 solo tracks, as well as numerous collaborations with a range of different artists.
During this time, the idea for this website was born. Elusive, frustrated at his lack of ability to promote himself, decided it was time to try something new. So he setup a MySpace profile, uploaded a few of his tracks and began adding people. Within days he was receiving comments and messages of praise for his music. He saw a lot of potential in the internet’s ability to reach and communicate with fans, and so he setup a few more profiles in various sites, and also began creating his own personal site, ElusiveMusic.net.
Throughout the next few months, Elusive continued to work on his website, improving its functionality slowly. He also kept improving his writing and recording techniques, and posting his creations online. He was also began working on his first official mixtape release during this time, planning to release the album for free download on the website’s launch day.
Currently, Elusive is still living in Noosa Heads with his mother and his beautiful girlfriend, continuing to write and create music, and sharing his views and opinions with anybody willing to listen. He’s delved even deeper into the occult world, and much of his learning is expressed through his songs. He’s still trying to improve and learn more about music production, and hip hop, as he feels he’s still nowhere near as good as he can be, and wants to give his fans the opportunity to understand exactly what he is capable of.
|
|
|
