Interview: Blackalicious

The Daily Californian sat down in Rock the Bells no-show MF Doom’s empty trailer with Blackalicious members MC Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel backstage and a few friends and family members listening on to talk about the evolving state of hip-hop, audio books, Kings vs. Warriors and the craft of songwriting.

Daily Californian: These days we’ve got albums like Nas’ Hip Hop is Dead, and we have Talib Kweli talking about supporting “real” hip-hop. Jean Grae is saying hip-hop isn’t dead, it’s just on vacation. Is hip-hop in danger? How does Rock the Bells address that question?

Chief Xcel: For me, the significance of Rock the Bells is that it’s multiple generations of hip-hop. We’re at the point now where it’s like three or four generations deep. Kool Herc is in his 50s. For me, the music that was created when I was born was James Brown. When you look at now the average 17- or 18-year-old, the music that was created when they was born was N.W.A. or A Tribe Called Quest, you know, or De La Soul or Public Enemy. So it’s just different reference points.

To me, the lifeline of hip-hop always has to be creativity and reinvention. Bambaataa said when he first started playing in the projects in the South Bronx, he wanted to take rock to kids who only listen to soul and soul to kids who only listen to rock.

Now we have a generation where there are no lines that divide genres like that anymore. They just listen to anything that they want because they have access to everything, so it’s now up to those kids and that generation to create whatever the counterculture is going to be within the music. For our generation, Public Enemy was the counterculture to everything that was happening on the radio. You weren’t hearing records like Night of the Living Bassheads, you know what I mean? Or Super Lover Cee & Casanova, you weren’t hearing that when we were teenagers. So that’s what made our art form so dynamic.

Now hip-hop is everywhere. You know my cousin is 12 and it’s been around his entire life. I mean I remember a time when I had never heard of hip-hop records. (To his cousin Malik) Can you remember a time when you never heard of hip-hop records? What year were you born? ’95?

Malik: ’94.

XL: ’94. Yeah, so when he was born, Souls of Mischief had come out with ’93 ’Til Infinity. So to him, that’s James Brown. So as a result I’m saying that hip-hop will always regenerate.

DC: I hear the term “positive” hip-hop, and it seems like there’s a line drawn. What do you think of that as a distinction, and how do you react to albums that don’t fit, like Hell Hath No Fury?

Gift of Gab: I think that hip-hop has to be honest. We live in a diverse world, with a lot of different philosophies and outlooks. Different people get down different ways. As long as the artist is being honest, it’s art, whether it’s positive or whether it’s “negative.” To me, it’s just about being honest, it’s about being who you are.

DC: Something I think about when listening to your album The Craft is the writing process. It got me curious, what are you guys reading these days?

XL: Really man, I’ve been listening to a lot of audio books lately. I’m always tasked with trying to cram 36 hours’ worth of work into a 16-hour work day, so the only time I really get to listen is when I’m working out. Russell Simmon’s book, “The 12 Laws of Success,” I thought was really dope. Quincy Jones’ autobiography. Sidney Poitier’s book, his memoir, “Measure of a Man.” Phenomenal. I’m really into studying people who have mastered the art of longevity. To me, everything—especially as an artist—goes in cycles. You have cycles of proliferation and you have cycles where you may not be so proliferate. To study all of these greats and see how they made it is a fascinating thing.

DC: Here’s something I thought of today while listening to “Chemical Calisthenics”: Are you guys into sci-fi?

GG: Not real heavy, no. I like “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.” I wouldn’t say I’m a big sci-fi person. “Chemical Calisthenics,” the way the lyrics to that song were written, Cut Chemist actually came up with the concept. He gave me a book with the periodic table. And as I wrote the lines, I looked at the words and fit them into the lines, but I had to read the meaning, because right now I couldn’t tell you what half of the words meant. But at the time, as I was putting the rhyme together, I had the definitions in front of me, so I knew how to put it together so that it would make sense, so that it does make sense if you know about that kind of stuff.

DC: I’m from Sacramento, so I have to ask, are you guys basketball fans, and then, is it Kings or Warriors?

XL: Wow.

DC: That’s a big question for me. I mean, I moved to Berkeley. And especially right now, right?

XL: Yeah. That’s a tough question, man. Because I live two exits from the coliseum. So. That’s hard. (Laughter)

DC: Not about drawing lines, but …

XL: Yeah, I don’t really want to answer that right now, because for me, I’ve spent equal amounts of time in both—well, I’ve spent a little more time in the Bay than I have Sacramento but, you know, I credit my upbringing in Sacramento for making me who I am just as much in Oakland, so …

DC: Do you guys spend time in Sacramento and Davis?

XL: Yeah, my mother lives in Sacramento.

DC: One more thing. Something I’ve noticed is when you’re rapping you (Gift of Gab) get pretty expressive with your hand. I was wondering if you noticed yourself starting to do that, or if there’s a story behind that?

GG: That’s just the way that I rhyme. That’s just the way that my body feels (laughs). My hand starts to move with the cadence, just creating some kind of… shit, that, you know. I can’t explain it.

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