I haven’t heard anything that breakthrough in hip-hop lately, so I thought I’d dig through my collection and find something noteworthy. Blackalicious, along with the rest of the Quannum crew, were a main reason for my first interests in hip-hop. Their West Coast, laid-back vibes made me rethink what hip-hop was all about. Nia may have had some killer tracks, but Blazing Arrow created a vibe that marked the Blackalicious sound.
Blazing Arrow may not be the most acclaimed album of its time, but it had a strong following and pushed hip-hop forward across The Bay. Gift of Gab put out some cunningly crafted rhymes, but without the backup of Chief Xcels beats, his words wouldn’t have flowed so freely. I put up some of the best from the album, but its entirety is well worth a listen.
If you’ve got anything fresh that reminds you of these two, post it up in the comments below.
On a side note, in case some of you’ve notice my site has been down for a couple of days. I’ve resolved the issue with my host and hopefully this shit doesn’t happen again. It was a pain in the ass, and I’m hopin’ for some smooth sailin’, at least for a while.
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Download: Make You Feel That Way | 4000 Miles | Brain Washers
Blackalicious Info.:
Genre: Hip-Hop
Location: Davis, California
Members:
Gift of Gab (Tim Parker): MC
Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley): DJ, Producer
Label: Quannum Projects
Albums: Nia | Blazing Arrow | The Craft
Similar Sounds: Latyrx | Lifesavas | Jurassic 5 | The Mighty Underdogs
Links: Blackalicious.com | Wikipedia | MySpace | Facebook | Last.fm | AllMusic
Blazing Arrow Info.:
Album: Blazing Arrow
Release Date: April 30, 2002
Buy Links: Amazon | Amazon mp3 | iTunes
4000 Miles Info:
Featuring: Chali 2na & Lateef the Truth Speaker
Make You Feel That Way Info.:
Anthony Coleman: Trumpet
Brain Washers Info.:
Featuring: Ben Harper
Juan Nelson: Bass
Leon Lewis Mobley: Drums
Oliver Charles: Rhodes, Clavinet
Also contains cuts by Cut Chemist
“If you’ve got anything fresh that reminds you of these two, post it up in the comments below.”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6ffo9wrz0
It’s really a comparison between Ambdominal and Gift of Gab. Both are 2 of my favorite MC’s in terms of simply breath control and timing. Unfortunately, Dj Format was not anywhere near the level of Chief Xcel at the time but the Simonsound album he put out shows massive growth.
You hit it right, man – Abdominal has a damn good flow, but the beat is pretty basic old school. Hard to match Xcel.
Thanks for the recc, appreciate it.
Xcel is ridiculously creative. Especially his layering and arrangements. There are some producers who are technically more advanced but few come with the whole package in the way that he does. I’m surprised that there was never a Blazing Arrow instrumental album.
You have an amazing blog. I have insane respect for someone who covers Bonobo, Emancipator, Pretty Lights, Archnemesis, Ulrich Schnauss, and Blackalicious on the same site.
I would comment more but I don’t want to blow up your spot.
Yea, as far as creativity in production, West Coast hip-hop kills.
Haha, you picked out some of my favorites of all time (especially PL). DEF comment whenever, I love to hear people’s feedback.
Check out TM Juke (similar to Emancipator & Bonobo)… I have so many others you should hit up, haha
You into hip-hop from the Northwest? Blackalicious’ label Quaunnum/Solesides has some good shit too.
Man… I love producers from everywhere but I think the West Coast is a little quicker to support their forward thinking producers and push them to the front where they can get more national exposure.
TM Juke is pretty dope. He made this song called “Marbles & Drains” for the Nippon Connection compilation that was one of the hardest things he ever did. I listen to about half the cats on Tru Thoughts(Bonobo & TM Juke’s label). Amazing stuff.
Speaking of Emancipator(one of my top 5 producers), if you go to see him live, he plays an unbelievably dope remix of “Make you Feel that Way” that he produced. I never thought a Blackalicious remix would kill the original but… damn. It’s almost worth the entry fee just to hear that alone.
I really don’t even listen to Hip-hop like I used to. I was a huge head. Graffiti, B-boying, all that.
Now, I just Dj and produce but mainly listen to downtempo, breaks, and trip-hop. Mainly instrumental music.
Yea, I pretty much love producers from anywhere. Use to be heavily into Japanese producers <3 Nujabes.
I hit up Tru Thoughts every once in a while – Love Ninja Tune as well. Use to work out in London for UMG, so I got exposed to it all… and unfortunately a lot of shit hip-hop, lol.
Fuck, that Emancipator remix sounds amazing. I wondered what he would do in concert, especially when he was touring with Bassnectar.
I’m slowly moving out of hip-hop into electronic, but love when they sample good MC’s. I use to be more into downtempo/trip-hop but now I’m getting into more dubstep, break beats. I guess it’s all cyclical.
Nomak, Woodblue, Krush, Nujabes, Asayake Productions, A.Y.B. Force… the list of amazing stuff from Japan seems endless.
Ninja Tune is the truth. They were kinda my benchmark for measuring dopeness for a while.
I’m not really a fan of Bass Nectar. Saw him live and was underwhelmed. Emancipator is about to tour with Blockhead and those shows should be insane.
I’m not much for Dubstep in general but I’ve heard some that is breathtaking. Breaks on the other hand… they are like my religion.
I cover a lot of them on my blog. Plus, they are my favorite thing to spin.
DJ Deckstream is another favorite.
Yea, Bassnectar’s albums haven’t been all that impressive, but a few of his remixes are unbelievable. Never seen him live.
I still can’t understand why I like dubstep, but a lot of innovative shit’s comin out of it. Just gettin into breaks, def see what you mean.
’bout to check ur blog – I’m sure it’ll have a lot I like.
I’ll admit that he had some remixes that were tight(including a Pixies song). I had never heard him before I saw him. Maybe that was the issue.
Breaks are so versatile. When you explore all the sub-genres, you’ll realize that there’s always time for the right kind of breakbeat.