Blackalicious, Nia (Quannum Projects) 9+
At last, at last, a hip-hop album that is deep, funny, musical, and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Northern California based DJ Chief Xcel and MC Gift Of Gab have proven themselves to be the new kings of underground hip-hop, nudging over The Roots, Black Star and Outkast. They make it clear how they got there, by living and breathing hip-hop's entire history, taking it to church with uplifting, soulful lyrics worthy of Curtis Mayfield, and to the lab with the most creative beat science since Quannum labelmate DJ Shadow's masterpiece. "Searching" introduces the album with an earnest manifesto that is inspired by the more sarcastic metaphysical rants of Funkadelic. It succeeds in establishing an air of expectation of something huge to follow. "The Fabulous Ones" announces their arrival, but is more of a feint to the crushing blow of "Do This My Way," where the spirit of Boogie Down Productions is evoked in the spare beats. Gift Of Gab demonstrates his brilliantly syncopated cadence which is also more consistently in key with the music since the heyday of the Native Tongues Posse, "Such a beautiful thing/This musical thang/When I can do it my way." "A To G" slays all competing MC's with wickedly clever poetics in just over two minutes. "Cliff Hanger" melds old-skool Run-DMC beats to minor-key atmospherics, setting up a spooky thriller that packs more eerie impact than the Gravediggaz' entire catalog. The heavy rhythms lighten up for a bit with the lovely guitar strumming and female choruses of "If I May." After the twelfth track, Blackalicious could have stopped and had one of the best hip-hop albums in years. Instead, they increase the creativity level to devastating effect, with the Fela Kuti groove of "Smithzonian Institute of Rhyme," framed by delicate middle-eastern melodies. The jazz-tinged "As The World Turns" and Stevie Wonder keyboard-driven "Making Progress" are timeless 70s soul grooves that will send Lauryn Hill packing and going back to school. "Reanimation" features an Outkast-style chorus that is more propulsively catchy than anything from Blackalicious' contemporaries. The album winds down with "Sleep," possibly the sweetest sounding hip-hop lullaby ever written. The third-rate MTV R&B crooners would sell their collective souls for a piece of that beauty. Oh, yeah, they already did. Nia is the benchmark against which all other hip-hop will likely be compared.
