Something Greater

In discussing the work of hip-hop duo Blackalicious with MC Gift of Gab for only a couple of minutes, one thing becomes abundantly clear: for Blackalicious - Gab and his partner, DJ Chief Xcel - their career in music is very much a life's journey.
"I think it's an evolution. You know, everything that we do has us growing as artists," says Gab from the Universal Music offices in Los Angeles. Blackalicious' newest album, Blazing Arrow, is about to come out on MCA Records, but it's far from a debut release. This Bay Area-based indie hip-hop duo - a part of the legendary Solesides / Quannum crew that also includes lyricists Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, as well as the enigmatic DJ Shadow - has cemented a place in the annals of hip-hop history by being at the forefront of the indie hip-hop music revolution. Blazing Arrow, maintains Gab, is simply the next step in this pair's evolution.
"Even if you listen to our whole body of work from Melodica to A2G to Nia to Blazing Arrow, it's just where we're at in our evolution right now, and we'll continue to grow," he continues, explaining that advancements in business have allowed for artistic expansion as well. "Myself as a lyricist and songwriter, and Xcel as a producer and a composer - I think that we've just grown on our own, but also, we've gotten the opportunity to do things we weren't able to do on our last record, like branch out and work with people like Amir [Thompson, a.k.a. Questlove] from The Roots, Chalie 2na [Jurassic 5], Raaka [Dilated Peoples], Saul Williams, and Jaguar and Tracy from the Jazzy Fat Nasties. I think it's important to dig other people's vibes and dig off their energy because that's how new styles of music are really created - you get together with chemistries that you haven't worked with before. Again, for us, it was just about expanding."
After years of working hard as independent artists, Blackalicious has spent the last year or so working hard as major label artists. But at the end of the day, it's all one in the same says Gab.
"I think that it's all a part of that evolution - with the music and where we're at with our careers right now," he explains, adding that the major label jump was simply the next move. "I think it all came down at the right time; it was time for us to evolve and to take our careers to the next logical step. Ultimately, you know, we want to make music for the world, we want everybody, as many people as can, to appreciate our work, just as any artist does. So with us, it's all about expanding and spreading out."
There is a certain hype that has followed Blackalicious since the early days. The group's first release, the amazing Melodica EP, is now an out-of-print classic, hunted by hip-hop heads not necessarily because of the album's cult status, but because it set the bar for indie, West Coast non-gangsta' hip-hop in the mid-'90s. The group's follow-up releases, which didn't start coming until four years after Melodica - the A2G EP and Nia - further cemented Blackalicious as independent powerhouses capable of not only creating original and soul-stirring music, but also of handling their business on a world-wide scale and finding continuing success with it. It's the success they've achieved as independent artists that prepared them for playing in the big game.
"We've done this by ourselves, we didn't come into this blind. If we were just a group who had never done anything independently, we might have not been ready for it all, but we know how things work in terms of putting out a record. Timing is everything, and it was definitely that time," says Gab, referring back to the journey, the bigger picture. "This is all one big vision. Me and Xcel are trying to leave a complete body of work, you know? It all goes back to what I was saying before: this is just a chance, a machine, a tool for us to use to get access to people who we may not have gotten to independently. Not that we wouldn't have gotten to them eventually."
It's that easy and comfortably assured confidence that Gab exudes when he talks about his work that also shines through in his music, though arrogance has never been a part of the Blackalicious vibe. Gift of Gab has always rapped with a real positive bent, and Xcel's music has always been roots-y, original and from the soul. But, after years of the independent hustle before landing a major label deal that they were comfortable with, one wonders if Gab and Xcel ever considered using their talents to make a quick buck - flip the script, front with a bottle of Möet, some breezies in bikinis, some ice, a Bentley… However, That's not likely.
"What's kept us from bling-blinging? That's just not who we are. With us, it's about coming from the soul. I just couldn't do that, I just don't bling-bling, man. One day I might - who knows - but I don't bling-bling right now, today," he confesses with a little chuckle, and gets a little more serious. "For us, music is a sacred thing, dude, it's something that comes to us from the spirit world, and it's like we're channels for something that's greater. Blackalicious - I feel like it's bigger than the two of us, even. All music really just comes from God, so with us, we keep it honest and we keep it real - not to use that cliché, but we're expressing life as we see it and as we feel it."

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