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"And the hood is all the mic can conceive when your foe’s bleeding to their death/And you picking their pocket/Wanna just get even." That set of lines from Blackalicious’ dour report on the state of hip-hop in "Sky is Falling" should tell you where this group is coming from. While so many rappers are happy to live out their ganglife fantasy of getting rich quickly and going out like Tony Montana, Blackalicious proves that there’s still hip-hop around with a brain and a soul. The group has transformed the musical landscape, and been hailed by critics as one of the genre’s saviors. Bringing intelligence and wit to their rhymes, the group has offered their listeners spiritual insight and turned a sharp and critical eye on the genre of hip-hop. Made up of rappers Gift of Gab (Timothy Parker) and Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley), they’re work is the product of a friendship that began in a Sacramento high school in the late ‘80s. Both went off to college, but soon after formed Blackalicious in 1992. Xcel had worked on the side rather notably in SoleSides, a hip-hop crew from the Bay Area that included such modern day luminaries as DJ Shadow and Lyrics Born. Solesides Records, the group’s label, put out Blackalicious’ first single, "Swan Lake," in 1994. It earned the group some notice, which slowly built over a period of years. With each EP and the group’s eventual full-length debut, Nia, critics found the cutting-edge of hip-hop. In 2000, Blackalicious jumped to the majors with MCA, then released their breakthrough record, 2002’s Blazing Arrow. That album changed the way people were thinking about hip-hop, turning them on to the "positive tip," rap that didn’t spend it’s time glorifying violence and a vapid, money-obsessed lifestyle. After separating for a few years to work on their own solo work, Blackalicious came back together to release a follow-up, 2005’s The Craft. Their music remains at the forefront of challenging the industry, and Blackalicious tickets ensure that you get to hear them at their best. This article was written by Andrew Good and sponsored by StubHub. StubHub sells Blackalicious tickets as well as sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and more to just about any event in the world.
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