Blackalicious: Hip-hop Craftsmen
By Chris Faraone
Thursday, April 6, 2006
Four out of five college students prefer Blackalicious.
At least that seemed the case Tuesday at the Paradise when a storm of underage hip-hop heads filled the sold-out club.
Although most of them came for Blackalicious, the young rap fans didn’t get to enjoy the main course until they had lessons in past and present West Coast boom bap.
Opening the show was newcomer Omni, who was chased by Los Angeles’ Pigeon John, rocking his fourth Boston show in the past year. With every tour, John further cements his reputation as an artist Boston rap fans love to party with, even if his squeaky-clean persona contradicts typical collegiate tastes.
Fatlip, whose Pharcyde crew forged bridges between the mid-’90s underground scene and mainstream radio, represented Cali’s golden age of hip-hop.A distinguished veteran, Fatlip banged nonchalantly, kicking his signature jester rhymes, including the Pharcyde bombs ‘‘Runnin’ ” and ‘‘Passin’ MeBy.”
The Portland, Ore., trio Lifesavas brought their throwback, DJ-powered stage show to Boston in October, but their fans seemed hungry for more.A showcase of fall-in-love-at-first-spins from their upcoming ‘‘Gutterfly” cranked the energy and ensured they’ll find another eager crowd when they come back East to support the new CD.
Once Blackalicious producer-DJ Chief Xcel was situated, MC Gift of Gab wasted no time stomping the accelerator. Gab’s tremendous breath control is no studio effect; he does the work of three rappers and he does it effortlessly.
With the crowd fully involved (and snapping obnoxious amounts of camera-phone pics), Gab and Xcel reached back to 1995’s ‘‘Melodica” EP, rolled through newer tracks such as the Ringo Starr-inspired ‘‘Blazing Arrow” and circled around to ‘‘Rhythm Sticks” from their most recent release, ‘‘The Craft.” As goes a Blackalicious show, Gab didn’t fail to deliver freestyles between the well-engineered bounce anthems.
Blackalicious, at the Paradise, Tuesday night.
| Rate this article1 |
Low
High
|
|
|
Current Rating: |
|
|
Your Rating: |
Please enable cookies to rate articles
|
|
|
|
|
E-mail article
View text version
View most popular
