Blackalicious: NIA

By Eliot Rose

When Blackalicious came to town this summer, my friends and I instantly declared it the best hip-hop show we'd ever seen. Chief Xcel delved into the annals of jazz and funk to lay down some incredible tracks and the Gift of Gab wound tongue-twisting lyrics around the beats in a huge variety of styles. When I picked up NIA the next day, I was a bit disappointed. The beats and lyrics were still there, but it was simply a question of time—specifically, the half-hour difference between Blackalicious' 45-minute live set and the sprawling 19 tracks and nearly 75 minutes of NIA.

Not that Blackalicious doesn't have the talent to pull off such an epic. The Gift of Gab is as versatile as his name implies, and he deploys techniques ranging from the alliterative wordplay of "A to G" to the reggae-tinged speak-singing of "You Didn't Know That Though." Chief Xcel keeps up with him at every turn, and there's never a song with a weak beat or bassline. Xcel is at his best when he applies unconventional touches, such as the sentimental piano line in "Sleep" or the winding treble of "Smithzonian Institute of Rhyme" to the rhythm tracks. The duo crams as many twists as possible into the first half of NIA , culminating in the eerie, DJ Shadow-produced "Cliffhanger."

Unfortunately, the second side often finds Xcel running out of tricks and the Gift of Gab ditching wordplay for comparatively flat post-De La Soul message raps. It doesn't help that Blackalicious chooses to tie the album together with two neo-hippie opening and closing interludes about, respectively, "Searching" and "Finding," and cement it with a self-indulgent poem midway through. If only the group had set its sights a bit lower the quality of NIA might have been a bit higher. Somewhere inside this 75-minute beast there's an excellent 50-minute album just dying to get out. (Quannum Projects)

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