From official bio : "Self-described "everyday brothers", the Bay Area native Xavier Mosley (Chief Xcel) met the San Fernando Valley native Tim Parker (Gift of Gab) at John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento, California in 1987, and immediately struck up a friendship over hip-hop. As Tim (known as Gabby T) and Xavier (then DJ IceSki) began plying their skills in the area, they decided to become a crew. Although they separated after Gab graduated in 1989, they kept in close touch and decided in 1991 to become Blackalicious.

In a hip-hop career that has stretched past a decade, Blackalicious has earned respect the old-fashioned way--rising through honesty, commitment, and artistry. Now, with Blazing Arrow, their fourth album and their major label debut, they have achieved their most fully realized album in a consistently ground-breaking discography. Ranging from verbal funk-burners and battle-rhyme rippers to expertly crafted future-soul and convention-crushing experimentation, Blazing Arrow moves from strength to strength on Chief Xcel's studio wizardry and the Gift of Gab's quicksilver tongue, igniting fires in the soul and body.

Blazing Arrow marks a continuing progression. "Nia was really about purpose and finding the path," says Xcel. "Blazing Arrow is about faith, having the strength to endure that path. It's an arrow in flight." Gab adds, "Nia was forethought and Blazing Arrow is action." The album offers straight-up hip-hop bangers in songs like "Passion" (w/ Rakaa), "4000 Miles" (w/Lateef and Chali 2Na), "Art of Mind", and "Paragraph President" (a nod to early 90s fans); glimmering future-soul in "Nowhere Fast" (w/ ?uestlove and keyboardist James Poyser), "It's Goin' Down" (w/ Hi-Tek and Jonell), "Aural Pleasure" (w/ Jaguar) and "First In Flight" (w/ Gil Scott-Heron); and an epic suite that share the vision and ambition of a Marvin Gaye or Pharoah Sanders in the three-part "Release" (w/ Zach De La Rocha and Saul Williams). With Cut Chemist, they even expand on the wig-lifting experimentation of their crowd favorite "Alphabet Aerobics" in "Chemical Calisthenics" - Jeff "DJ Zen" Chang, November 26, 2001.

Blazing Arrow
2002 - MCA Records, Quannum


Track listing

01. Intro : Bow & Fire
02. Blazing Arrow
03. Sky Is Falling
04. First In Flight (featuring Gill Scott Heron)
05. Green Light : Now Begin
06. 4000 Miles (featuring Chali 2na (Jurassic 5) & Lateef the Truthspeaker)
07. Nowhere Fast
08. Paragraph President
09. It's Going Down (featuring Lateef the Truthspeaker & Keke Wyatt)
10. Make You Feel That Way
11. Brain Washers (featuring Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals)
12. Chemical Calisthenics (Feat. Cut chemist (Jurassic 5))
13. Aura Pleasure (featuring Jaguar Wright)
14. Passion (featuring Rakaa Iriscience & Babu (Dilated Peoples))
15. Purest love
16. Release Part 1,2,3 (featuring Zach De La Rocha, Saul Williams & Lyrics Born)
17. Day One

| Ecouter "Brain Washers"