Blackalicious: EYE.NET
Blackalicious could easily have titled The Craft, their fantastic new album, The Goosebumps Theory. That's because the Bay Area duo of Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab applied the same philosophy to making their record as über-producer Quincy Jones did when recording Michael Jackson's gazillion-selling Thriller. "I was reading Quincy Jones' autobiography and he said they'd recorded a lot of really great songs, but the only ones that would make the album were the ones that gave him and Michael goosebumps," Xcel says from his home. "I found that level of commitment amazing. After reading that, I decided I would take that approach to making this record. I talked about what I'd read to Gab and he agreed and he began calling it 'the goosebumps theory.'" Speaking of theory, A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory, Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show and N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton served as Blackalicious blueprints for the new album. "If you listen to the drums on all of them, they sounded cold and bigger than anything that came out at that time. Sonically, that inspired me," Xcel says. When asked what each album's strengths are, Xcel says Low End Theory is the type of record "you can listen to while driving, on your walkman or while doing chores around the crib"; Yo! Bum Rush the Show "exhibited how far sampling could be taken"; and Straight Outta Compton was "a masterpiece on an emotional level.
There was no other record that raised the adrenalin and testosterone levels in a 14-year-old kid." In Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, Jones says that he and Rod Temperton, who co-wrote several songs on Thriller, listened to nearly 600 tracks before choosing a dozen they liked. Xcel and Gab listened to 120 songs (and ideas for songs) before picking 14 blazing tracks. "I try to amass as much material as possible," Xcel explains. "After years of working together, I have an idea of what Gab's gonna gravitate to. The ideas have to be diverse and that requires covering a lot of musical ground and fleshing out ideas until you get to the point where you're like, 'OK, now the picture's being painted.' Once we have an idea of what the core songs are -- the ones that move us -- we start building from there." To get an idea of how sophisticated and multi-flavoured The Craft is, consider the band that Xcel and Gab collaborated with. It includes French cellist Vincent Segal, who did string arrangements for 2002's Blazing Arrow, bassists Teak Underdue (Dead Prez) and Carl Young (Spearhead), percussionist Alfredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys), and guitarist Sebastian Martel and keyboardist Herve Salters, both of whom play with Femi Kuti. Guests include George Clinton, Lyrics Born, Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lifesavas. Xcel resists the temptation to call The Craft their best album, as Gab does, instead calling it "our most realized and focused work." "For me, the goal has always been to create at the rate that I imagine," he says. "It's a never-ending challenge because the two rates have never worked at the same pace. I'm always imagining things faster than I can physically execute them." If you need further convincing that one of hip-hop's most meticulous producers has incredibly high standards, consider this comment: "I never want to get to the point where I've seen, done and heard everything.
My attitude in the studio is, 'I'm just an intern.' I want to maintain that same hunger and tenaciousness." Gab articulates this attention to craft beautifully in the title track with lines like, "This ain't leisure although it feels it is a duty / A way to live, another way to give / Another way to just have communion with the source of the sun." I tell Xcel that the track reads like a prayer. "Wow! That's heavy, that's really heavy. Thank you," he replies. "That's one of the deepest compliments we've gotten on the record so far." As expressed in the song, Blackalicious take their calling seriously but Xcel says they do it without taking themselves too seriously. "If you do that, you get in the way of the creative flow and the creative process," he says. "When you realize you're just a vessel and that you're just here to contribute to the continuum of music, then you can put everything into perspective. It all starts with being able to shut up, be humble and step out of the way. When you do that you can truly learn."
Blackalicious could easily have titled The Craft, their fantastic new album, The Goosebumps Theory. That's because the Bay Area duo of Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab applied the same philosophy to making their record as über-producer Quincy Jones did when recording Michael Jackson's gazillion-selling Thriller. "I was reading Quincy Jones' autobiography and he said they'd recorded a lot of really great songs, but the only ones that would make the album were the ones that gave him and Michael goosebumps," Xcel says from his home. "I found that level of commitment amazing. After reading that, I decided I would take that approach to making this record. I talked about what I'd read to Gab and he agreed and he began calling it 'the goosebumps theory.'" Speaking of theory, A Tribe Called Quest's Low End Theory, Public Enemy's Yo! Bum Rush the Show and N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton served as Blackalicious blueprints for the new album. "If you listen to the drums on all of them, they sounded cold and bigger than anything that came out at that time. Sonically, that inspired me," Xcel says. When asked what each album's strengths are, Xcel says Low End Theory is the type of record "you can listen to while driving, on your walkman or while doing chores around the crib"; Yo! Bum Rush the Show "exhibited how far sampling could be taken"; and Straight Outta Compton was "a masterpiece on an emotional level.
There was no other record that raised the adrenalin and testosterone levels in a 14-year-old kid." In Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, Jones says that he and Rod Temperton, who co-wrote several songs on Thriller, listened to nearly 600 tracks before choosing a dozen they liked. Xcel and Gab listened to 120 songs (and ideas for songs) before picking 14 blazing tracks. "I try to amass as much material as possible," Xcel explains. "After years of working together, I have an idea of what Gab's gonna gravitate to. The ideas have to be diverse and that requires covering a lot of musical ground and fleshing out ideas until you get to the point where you're like, 'OK, now the picture's being painted.' Once we have an idea of what the core songs are -- the ones that move us -- we start building from there." To get an idea of how sophisticated and multi-flavoured The Craft is, consider the band that Xcel and Gab collaborated with. It includes French cellist Vincent Segal, who did string arrangements for 2002's Blazing Arrow, bassists Teak Underdue (Dead Prez) and Carl Young (Spearhead), percussionist Alfredo Ortiz (Beastie Boys), and guitarist Sebastian Martel and keyboardist Herve Salters, both of whom play with Femi Kuti. Guests include George Clinton, Lyrics Born, Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lifesavas. Xcel resists the temptation to call The Craft their best album, as Gab does, instead calling it "our most realized and focused work." "For me, the goal has always been to create at the rate that I imagine," he says. "It's a never-ending challenge because the two rates have never worked at the same pace. I'm always imagining things faster than I can physically execute them." If you need further convincing that one of hip-hop's most meticulous producers has incredibly high standards, consider this comment: "I never want to get to the point where I've seen, done and heard everything.
My attitude in the studio is, 'I'm just an intern.' I want to maintain that same hunger and tenaciousness." Gab articulates this attention to craft beautifully in the title track with lines like, "This ain't leisure although it feels it is a duty / A way to live, another way to give / Another way to just have communion with the source of the sun." I tell Xcel that the track reads like a prayer. "Wow! That's heavy, that's really heavy. Thank you," he replies. "That's one of the deepest compliments we've gotten on the record so far." As expressed in the song, Blackalicious take their calling seriously but Xcel says they do it without taking themselves too seriously. "If you do that, you get in the way of the creative flow and the creative process," he says. "When you realize you're just a vessel and that you're just here to contribute to the continuum of music, then you can put everything into perspective. It all starts with being able to shut up, be humble and step out of the way. When you do that you can truly learn."