Cullen randomly picks another album from his basement to write about. If you are confused about what's happening or why it's happening on this blog, click here for an intro.
When Gift of Gab passed away last summer, I felt a little bad for not keeping up with his projects in the years since Blazing Arrow, because there was a time when I counted him as one of my favorite rappers. I only saw him once, in 2003 in New Orleans, but he was just as tight live as on record, casually tossing out mindblowing feats of pure emceeing, & there's no better place to look for that than Nia, the 1st Blackalicious LP. Gift & mad scientist producer Chief XCel cook up an LP's worth of delicacies that are mostly uptempo--but even when they're being deadly serious ("Deception") still have a sense of fun--assisted by their Quannum compatriots Lateef, Lyrics Born & the legendary DJ Shadow.
Because Gift was rapping about pro-black consciousness in a time when gangsta rap dominated the mainstream, stuff like this (& their Northern California brethren like Hieroglyphics & The Coup) got labeled "alternative hiphop," even though they weren't doing anything Brand Nubian or Queen Latifah weren't doing in the mainstream a decade earlier. Still, I remember a friend of mine, when somebody asked him to describe Blackalicious, saying meekly, "they're on that, you know, positive tip," as if he needed to apologize for it.
One of the album's "positive tip" centerpieces is "Shallow Days," where Gift raps about a conversation with a gangsta-minded friend over XCel's trademark dry analog drums, plaintive horns & psychedelic guitars. It's a thoughtfully written song, not a Speech (from Arrested Development)-style holier-than-thou condemnation of the street life. Gift seems to respect where his friend is coming from & wants to get to the root of the problem rather than blame individuals.
The album is full of conscious tracks like this. Gift of Gab really loved Black people, & I love him for it. (There's even a Nikki Giovanni spoken word feature!). But I'd be lying if I said I didn't gravitate to the pure ego tripping tracks. I'm from the era where braggadocio was a key part of a rapper's arsenal--you had to spend at least some of the time rapping about how good a rapper you were, & Gift supplies us with 5 such tracks here: "The Fabulous Ones," "A to G," "You Didn't Know That Though," "Trouble (Eve of Destruction)" & "Reanimation." Each one is an emcee clinic, flexing his multisyllabic rhyme schemes, breath control, enunciation, & nimble flow while making the whole thing look as easy as breathing. These tracks blew my mind when I first heard them, & no matter how familiar I've become with them, they still do. Among lots of other artists, Gift thanks Kool G Rap in the liner notes, & I can clearly hear the influence of Kool G's multisyllable mastery on Gift's style.
Of the 5 ego trip songs, "Trouble" has a great fretless bass sample that sets it apart, but I can't argue with the horns on "Fabulous Ones" & (especially) "Reanimation." I really love horn sections, & Xcel has a way with them.
"A to G" is an interesting piece, part of Gift's series of lyrical workouts (along with "Alphabet Aerobics" & "Chemical Calisthenics"). People who dismiss songs like this as style over substance are missing the point: in this case, the mechanics are the message. Some of the best hiphop emerges from a sense of play, & wordplay for its own sake is a perfectly justifiable end.
Another lane where Blackalicious excelled (possibly better than anybody) was songs describing the relatable feelings of universal experience, & this album contributes "Sleep," a lovely little piece about the simple satisfaction of going to bed buoyed by Xcel's new-agey piano. "A day of work completed, a night of rest is needed/Almost done with a book but eyelids too heavy to read it."
There's not a bad song on Nia. Maybe "Cliff Hanger," where Gift tries a flow that just doesn't work, trying to cram too many syllables into a not very interesting story, but at least the beat is worthwhile, particularly the shivery cinematic strings. No really bad songs, just too many songs. The album clocks in at a hefty 75 minutes (this was back when artists were trying to give CD buyers their money's worth by filling the format to its capacity). Albums from this era were just too long. This one could be a better, smoother listen if they'd cut 4 songs or so.
Between Gift of Gab's...well, gifts, & Xcel's brilliant cut-&-paste Pete Rock approach & ear for melody, Nia has gem after gem to disclose. I just wish it were a bit more brief & punchy.
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