The School Stops Here: Blackalicious Brings the Hip Hop Love Alive In L.A.

Scott Thill

I showed up at the Knitting Factory around six for what turned out to be a postponed interview with Blackalicious' architects, Chief Xcel and the Gift of Gab, only to find the place deserted. As much fun as I had pacing the stage and soundchecking the mikes like Cypress Hill's rap superstar, the interview was the thing, like Shakespeare said (kinda), and my two subjects were AWOL.

Slip into my conscious -- Nia was the hiphop masterpiece that true headz were waiting for. Can Blazing Arrow continue the tradition?

But there was a story behind the Factory's main stage silence. It seems Xcel and Gab were driving all the way from Sacramento for the show and got a late start, due chiefly to the fact that some knucklehead had broken into Xcel's car, made off with his stereo, and generally set the dynamic duo back a few hours. Couple that with the fact that Xcel and Gab had to round up the entire Quannum crew -- including the other two rappers in the collective, Latyrx members Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, their opening act, the Lifesavas, Isaac from Quannum Projects and other members of their posse -- and then lay out a plan for the show as well as one for driving all the way back to the Bay when they all finished at two in the morning and, well, you can only imagine the logistical problems.

So I didn't pause when a continually bright-eyed Lateef arrived with a very tired-looking Gift of Gab alongside him -- I figured an interview was the last thing they wanted to worry about. Especially since the Knitting Factory sound crew was loudly wondering where they were and whether or not could they get on the stage and put the sound check together so the party could get underway. I took one look at Gab and thought, "Man, I hope these guys make it through the night all right."

Well, to paraphrase that immortal rapper and president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I -- and the Knitting Factory crew and crowd -- had nothing to fear but fear itself.

By the time the Factory main stage doors opened to a hungrily waiting public, the vibe for an evening of good times, good will, and ganja was already in place. And just like the show the week before it involving hip hop and members of the Quannum Collective -- Product Placement, the six-hour DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist turntable extravaganza -- the crowd was more racially representative than an episode of the original Star Trek. Plus, most of them seemed to be chomping at the bit for a chance to breakdance, a feel-good throwback accentuated by the various Atari t-shirts, ski caps, and adidas gear. It was a blast that reached a minor critical mass when Garth Trinidad started spinning his eclectic compositions and the following act, the Lifesavas, brought their underground roots-rock-rap flavor in to get the crowd into scoring position.

But Blackalicious, just like their Bay Area counterpart, Barry Bonds, brings the heat and the home runs, and they had no plans on disappointing the crowd, even with the added weight of their pre-show snafus. They came onstage in a trickle, DJs Chief Xcel and D# first, singers Joyo Velarde and Errin Anova next. Xcel laid down a slamming beat and Velarde and Anova backed it up with a silky croon, as Lateef crept onstage, the usual gleam in his eye functioning perfectly, and along with stagemate and Lifesavas-member, Vursatyl, started pumping up the crowd for the entrance of a energized Gift of Gab.

And we were off on the new-school funk Mothership.

To watch Gift of Gab rhyme his way in person through the best of Blackalicious' tracks off of their seminal Nia, material from their upcoming release, Blazing Arrow, and classics from the Solesides vault is truly something else. His rapid-fire delivery, manifest in his incessant tapping fingers, seems to come from somewhere deep within his prodigious lung capacity, his eyes closed to more capably summon all of his power to channel it, pushing it forward and out into the hopping crowd like some spiritual medium transmitting a message from another world. A fitting image, considering the spiritually nourishing introspections contained within the best of their tracks, like "If I May" and "As the World Turns," both of which were sobering songs when reproduced live, especially when haunted by the live backing vocals of Velarde and Anova.

The new school's old-school. Early Blackalicious and the best of the Davis-based Solesides crew are singular examples of artistry on the rise.

But the crowd, of course, came to jump and bump, and Blackalicious proved completely up to the task, ripping through "A To G" and the amazing Cut-Chemist/Gift of Gab collaboration, "Alphabet Aerobics," two tracks that showcase Gab's amazing abilities to formulate rhymes in any paradigm, this one restricted by their consecutive appearance in the alphabet. For those of you who still think the boring Mase or the overrated P. Diddy rule rap, I suggest you dig up "Alphabet Aerobics" off of Blackalicious' EP, A2G, and get with it. That ought to set you straight.

The roll continued with the group's finest, including "Deception," "Rock the Spot," and "Clockwork." But the party kicked into overdrive when Lyrics Born showed up onstage to the old Solesides standout, "Lady Don't Tek No," twirling his arm in the air as he dropped rhymes with his buddies from way back -- you couldn't help but feel nostalgic even though you probably weren't there when they all hooked up back in Davis, CA for the first time, feeling each other out. Sticking around for "Do This My Way" ("rolled a mastodon outta Jurassic Park" is still one of the dopest lyrics that Lyrics Born has ever come up with, I say), the former Asia Born gave way to a guest appearance by Dilated Peoples' Rakka, who helped to serve up the slamming science that is Blackalicious' new single, "Passion." If that song is any indication of the general quality and versatility of the upcoming Blazing Arrow (due in March), all those questions about whether or not the band can weather the considerable benchmark Nia inscribed for hip hop should be put to rest rather quickly.

Support Morphizm -- Getcha Blackalicious, Solesides and Quannum CDs at Djangos!

Blackalicious closed the first part of their set with the soothing "If I May" but reappeared alongside all of their guest stars to keep the party rocking for nearly another hour, finishing up with a freestyle battle among friends that sapped whatever remaining energy the band -- and the crowd -- had in its tank. It was the wild, fulfilling ride that those familiar with the Quannum Collective's stunning talent factory have come to expect, as well as the type of artistry that Blackalicious is coming to be notoriously known for.

The question of energy was one I raised to a still-hyped Lateef after the show, as Blackalicious and their management put together a plan for rescheduling our interview. How did you all do it, I asked, considering the mess involved in the Bay-to-L.A. commute, Xcel's problems with car burglars, getting everyone together and on the same page, and trying to summon up enough energy to make that drive back to Sacramento and Oakland right after the show?

"We love what we do," he answered, laughing.

It shows.

Scott Thill -- a media fanatic who finds the time to write on everything that does not include the words "boy band" -- is a gainfully employed dotcom editor currently finishing his first novel, The Dangerous Perhaps.