Blackalicious's followup to Nia was a refinement of that album's formula, doubling down on what worked, scaling back what didn't, & trying some new things along the way. As the group's stock was rising in the alternative hiphop world, they were able to reach out to guests like Questlove (when did he stop spelling his name with a ?), Gil Scott-Heron & even Zack de la Rocha. There's more of (almost) everything here: more live instruments (half the album is driven by live playing rather than sample chops), more ambitious, evolving compositions like "Nowhere Fast" (co-produced by Questlove), & even more extravagant rhyme schemes & relentless multisyllable sorcery from Gift of Gab. What there's less of: no real storytelling joints (though "Nowhere Fast" comes close), & less emphasis on ego trip tracks. Other than the 1-2 punch of "Paragraph President" into "It's Going Down," the braggadocious songs are hard to come by, as Gift seems more interested in being artsy than eating emcees for breakfast.
Consequently, this album owes a greater debt to poetry than their last record. Saul Williams makes a fiery guest appearance on the 10-minute epic "Release Part 1, 2 & 3," & there are spoken word, or spoken word-inspired, interludes peppered throughout the album. The lyrical topics are typically varied. Gift offers up another piece, like "Sleep" from Nia, in warm appreciation of the magic in everyday living: the nostalgic-sounding "Make You Feel That Way." "Purest Love" has a confessional autobiographical 1st verse, buoyed by lovely, delicate jazz flute by Karl Denson.
Speaking of which, "Purest Love," along with gospel-inflected opener "Bow & Fire," "First in Flight," "4000 Miles," the anti-war Ben Harper collaboration "Brain Washers," & "Aural Pleasure" are full of live instrumentation & as smooth & soulful as anything on Nia. But fear not: composer Chief Xcel still flexes his DJ muscles, both on the turntables & on the sampler. My favorite of the boom-bappier beats here is the swaggering funk of "It's Going Down," complete with skank guitars & wordless vocal chops. On the subject of chops, guest DJ Cut Chemist shows up for "Chemical Calisthenics," the followup to "Alphabet Aerobics" which one-ups the previous song's accelerando with start-stop tempo & meter changes.
Even though this album is technically better than Nia, I spent more time with that one & so it has more nostalgia value for me. While there's at least 1 misfire on Nia ("Cliff Hanger,") I can't find anything truly wrong with Blazing Arrow, but it's missing a tiny bit of the magic the previous album had. This one is great but, warts & all, I'll take the debut.
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