A promotional music press photograph showing ?nowledge. Captured in a medium shot seated in a home music recording studio, ?nowledge, aka Elgin Cintron, looks directly forward with hands clasped together in his lap, wearing a black cap with "JERSEY" printed in bold white capital letters across the front, a beige t-shirt, a gold chain necklace, and a wristwatch. Studio equipment, including glowing blue LED lights along a desk, computer monitors, studio monitor speakers, and a turntable, surrounds him under warm, atmospheric ambient lighting. — ?nowledge Credit: Courtesy

After nine years away, Tampa rap scene expat ?nowledgeis back home fresh off releasing Higher Ground, his first new LP in 10 years. The album’s title is a nod to Hurricane Ida, which flooded the New Jersey home he shared with his wife and destroyed his studio.

“The trauma of having to escape through chest high waters to get to safety along with the shell shock of losing everything I ever owned in the blink of an eye really put me in a musical funk for a few years following the flood,” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, adding that it took awhile for him to start creating again since he lost two brothers and his dad over the last five years, too. “The album really takes people on the rollercoaster ride of my life since the last project I put out while keeping the theme hopeful and redemptive.”

The record is rife with collaborations, including some with Tampa emcee Rahim Samad, beatsmith Sponatola, and Cintron’s nephew Zace, who will all be at this release show.

There’s no cover to see ?nowledge, Rahim Samad, Zace, Logic ForBeatz, Sponatola, and DJ Wally Rios at Velvet Gypsy in Tampa on Friday, Oct. 16.

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This article appears in Oct. 15 – 21, 2026.