Blackalicious Shows Off the Gift of Gab

There are times when Blackalicious’ Gift of Gab just wants to be Tim Parker, and forget, even if only momentarily, about his rap career. His constant touring leads to an “awkward balance,” he says, between “a normal life” spent enjoying the company of his friends and family and his life as a world-renowned MC. One of the consequences of Gab’s always being on the road is that he’s had “less time to just kick it with the crew.”

Last Thursday, with the Quannam World Tour 2004, Gab was able to tour in Boston with his entire extended musical family, and the atmosphere was as intimate as any lakefront reunion picnic. Quannam Projects, formerly known as Solesides, was founded by DJ Shadow, Gab, Blackalicious DJ Chief Xcel and their friends in the scene around the University of California, Davis in 1992. DJ Shadow was the biggest draw, with a following only rivaled by Blackalicious themselves, followed by the duo Latyrx (made up of idiosyncratic MCs Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, who also has a new solo album).

The concert was far from pedestrian in format, as differing combinations of the same talented musicians flew on and off the stage, with hardly a pause between songs. The crowd of collegiate-looking fans, with an unusually high number of females for a hip-hop show, brought an air of excitement to the Avalon that, combined with the fervor of the Yankees-Sox game across the street at Fenway Park, made Lansdowne Street course with energy.

Quannam artists are making a name for themselves for having engaging and innovative live shows, and this tour was no exception. In addition to the usual vinyl beats, a male and female soul singer lent their vocal talents to the various artists, bringing a more human connection to a lot of the material. The two volcalists are a common presence at Blackalicious shows, and one of the singers, Joyo Velarde, is even releasing her own album on the label soon.

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the performance, at least in terms of novelty, was the new DVD turntable demonstrated throughout the night. Video footage was projected onto screens behind the stage turntable, and was manipulated by the DJs (if anyone can think of something to call video-DJs that doesn’t instantly conjure up Carson Daly, insert here) in much the same way as a vinyl record. Clips of DVDs (including the cult graffiti/rap/breakdancing documentary Wild Style) were scratched back and forth, as the crowd watched in astonishment.

Of course being at the forefront of the evolution of hip-hop culture is nothing new for Gab. Blackalicious have garnered much critical acclaim for their interesting collaborations with other artists, especially musicians not known for fitting into the narrow hip-hop roles of DJ and MC. On Blazing Arrow, songs featured people such as slam poet and activist Saul Williams, Rage Against the Machine’s Zach De La Rocha and the legendary poet and jazz singer Gil Scott-Heron (most famous for his fiery work, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”).

Although this approach worked extremely well on Arrow, Gab mentioned that on the next Blackalicious record he and Xcel will be taking a more concentrated musical approach. This announcement seems to dovetail well with many other recent traditional-minded releases by artists such as Aesop Rock, Sage Francis (via his Non-Prophets collaboration with Joe Beats), Soul Position (RJD2 and Blueprint) and Boston’s own Akrobatik, many of which have emphasized the classic rap duo sound (one MC rapping over melodic beats provided by one DJ) over more dramatic experimentation.

Gab also has a new solo album coming out May 11th called 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up, and he says he is very excited about working with Seattle underground producers Vitamin B and Jake One, and getting a chance to be more of a “director” of the sound. But he claims that he and Xcel are still going strong. Even given the deep respect for traditional rap music that is currently being displayed, Gab claims that he and his labelmates are always looking towards future projects that “go beyond the borders of hip-hop.”

Gab’s openness to experimentation extends not only to interpretations of music, but reinterpretations as well. When asked his opinion on the recent “mash-up” phenomenon, he said that, “It just opens up a whole new world. I mean, imagine [Nas’] Illmatic done as a rock record.” Before DJ Dangermouse released his Gray Album (a mash-up combining the Beatles’ White Album with Jay-Z’s Black Album), few people outside the underground hip-hop scene had heard of the producer, but the publicity surrounding this project has brought him legions of new fans.

While this album was created illegally, the debate surrounding intellectual property laws continues to wage on, as does the strong movement to find a proper balance between the rights of creator and audience. As a hugely active creator of culture, Gab is very interested in the ramifications of these policies for creativity and musicianship. When told of the voluntary Creative Commons licensing scheme (creativecommons.org) designed by Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig (who spoke at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute earlier this year on the subject) Gab said it sounds like a “dope idea.” This system gives artists a way to signal their desired control over their work without the constant ambiguities and lawsuits that discourage innovation and synthesis today.

It is not only sampling restrictions that have adversely affected rap music, however.  While Lateef and Lyrics Born stoked up the crowd with cries of “the real hip-hop is over here” while pointing to different sides of the room, the silliness of the whole exercise seemed an interesting parallel to the coastal posturings and fierce hometown rivalries that have done so much harm to the movement.

When asked about the potential effect hip-hop can have on society, Gab mentioned that “music has always had that role, especially hip-hop. Look back to the early 90s when you had popular rap artists like Public Enemy and N.W.A. pushing these really political messages.”  He went on to claim that in today’s more materially-oriented scene, “the youth look to rappers” and often try to follow their example, giving the artists a responsibility to send the right signals to young people. But Gab said he believes that parents are still the most important role models for children today, for better or worse.

If the passion and innovation Blackalicious bring to their music seems hard to reconcile with their popular acceptance, perhaps it is only because a conflict between the two has been artificially imposed. Although fans love to play up the fundamental differences between “mainstream” and “underground” artists, according to Gab, the scene has gotten to the point where “anyone selling less than 10,000 records calls themselves underground,” regardless of their values and the messages they convey. This stereotype has been changing recently, as artists such as Outkast, Cee-Lo Green and Kanye West prove that it is possible to succeed commercially and still please demanding underground critics.

At the end of Thursday’s show, at the unusually early hour of 10:30 p.m., the Quannam crew bid farewell to an adoring crowd, the lights came on and throngs of college students slowly filed out of the club. Ironically enough, the first song to blare from the club speakers was Kanye’s “All Fall Down,” a popular radio single. Gab expressed it best himself when he said, “at the end of the day it’s about good music.”