Seeing a brand new music video from NYC crew Natural Elements in 2026 was some extremely unexpected shit. Far less surprising: they’re all still top tier spitters. “They’ve still got it!” is some damn faint praise, though, ain’t it? This is rap, after all. What makes this joint interesting for an old head like me is how they’ve updated & evolved their pen game, particularly Mr. Voodoo, now known as Agu.
About that. As this video makes clear, graphically and repeatedly, the strangest aspect of a Natural Elements reunion is the fact that every single artist in the group has since moved on from their old rap names. A-Butta just goes by Anthony Cruz, the same name he uses to roll at Renzo Gracie Academy. L Swift has built out a hella decent solo catalog as Swigga, short for Swigga Da Don. Choosing to address any of that, at all, is a curious concession. The fans don’t care either way.
Their energy hasn’t changed one bit, though. These bars remain battle tested and cypher approved. As for the song, “dopamiNE” is some extremely old head rap, almost a parody. As Cicero once lamented: “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” The beat, courtesy of Harlem polymath Bearfakts, is solid & simple stuff, the right kind of b-boy backdrop for these lectures.
I first heard A-Butta on that Lyricist Lounge album. It was a formative moment for me; I was fucking riveted and ran it back immediately. In those days, I was learning rap by submitting transcriptions to OHHLA. I would type out every line, then make a list of questions to bring to school and ask my local hip hop experts: dorm students from real cities at my swank private academy in the boonies. (I was surprised to learn I can still spit like 90% of both verses today.)
All my fond cracker memories of Rawkus Records have little to do with the legacy of Natural Elements. If only: after all, it was Tom “Tommy Boy” Silverman who famously fucked them over at the apex of their fame, sitting on their debut LP out of sheer idiot spite. As with most legendary lost albums, the subsequent leaks couldn’t live up to the hype. Had it dropped, it could have simply been an uneven debut, another milestone on their journey to a classic record. Instead, that story has dominated their legacy.
Legacies can change, though. On April 17th, they’ll be dropping “Alignment” on Fat Beats, a historical wrong being set right through sheer willpower and the passage of time. Expect it to be heavy on bars, nostalgia, and tributes to Ka (note the “Honor Killed the Samurai” socks in the opening shots here). I’m interested enough to check it out, so as far as promotional tools go, mission accomplished.
This is authoritatively above average rap product, a bright, fun music video for a strong single. There’s even a cinematic twist at the end where the former Mr. Voodoo steals the show with a barnburner of a sixteen. Nothing here is remotely groundbreaking or new, but none of it has to be. Four Dickies.
