Nine years after leaving Tampa, rapper Elgin Cintron is back home, and he's bringing a decade's worth of grief and resilience with him. Performing as ?nowledge, Cintron has just released Higher Ground, his first new full-length album in 10 years, as reported by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, and he'll celebrate with a free release show Friday night at Velvet Gypsy in Seminole Heights.
The album's title carries weight. As Creative Loafing Tampa reports, Higher Ground is named in reference to Hurricane Ida, which flooded the New Jersey home Cintron shared with his wife and destroyed his music studio. The storm wiped out more than just equipment, it stalled his creative output for years.
Cintron told the outlet that the trauma of the flood, along with the loss of his possessions, really put him in a musical funk for a few years following the disaster. On top of that, he said he lost two brothers and his father over the last five years, compounding the weight he carried while trying to find his way back to making music.
A Hopeful Record Born From Loss
Despite the losses that shaped it, Higher Ground is not a somber listen by design. The project explores Cintron's life since his previous release while keeping the theme hopeful and redemptive, according to the same report. Cintron has said that getting back into the studio took time after everything he and his family had been through.
The album isn't a solo effort. It features collaborations with Tampa emcee Rahim Samad, beatsmith Sponatola, and Cintron's own nephew, Zace, as noted by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, folding family and hometown ties directly into the music that marks his return.
Free Show Brings Together Bay Area Hip-Hop
Those same collaborators are set to join ?nowledge onstage for the Higher Ground release show, scheduled for Friday, Oct. 16, at Velvet Gypsy in Tampa. The lineup includes Rahim Samad, Zace, Sponatola, Logic ForBeatz and DJ Wally Rios, according to the event listing on Creative Loafing Tampa's community calendar, which notes that ?nowledge is returning to the Tampa stage for the first time in 10 years.
The show runs from 5 to 9 p.m. at the venue's Seminole Heights location on North Florida Avenue, and there's no cover to get in. For a hometown crowd that hasn't seen Cintron perform locally in nearly a decade, it's a chance to witness both a comeback and a tribute to the losses that nearly derailed it.
