Posts Tagged ‘Blackalicious’

Year in Review (Music)

Tuesday, December 10th, 2013
Our Reality, the Lyrical Phenom

Our Reality, the Lyrical Phenom

You can have Justin Bieber; you can have Katy Perry, you can have Miley Cyrus; and you can even have Daft Punk. What excited us most this year in music was the return of our friend, Michael “Our Reality” Childs to the stage. We got to preview the Our Reality album at the beginning of 2013.  He spent most of the summer touring. It has been 20 years since we’ve seen him perform, and we finally caught him ripping up the stage and kicking knowledge to a younger generation at the Westcott Theater last night. Ironically, Childs was on the bill with fellow West Coast Hip Hop heads Blackalicious.

Still Black, Still Strong

Monday, December 9th, 2013
Gift of Gab

Gift of Gab

The Westcott Theater served up a dose of  West Coast positivity with the anticipated arrival of Blackalicious in Syracuse last night.  The group was founded in the 1990s by Tim Parker (aka Gift of Gab) and Xavier Moseley (aka DJ Chief Xcel).  Gift of Gab had a health scare with kidney failure last year, so it was good to see him back on stage.

The duo was joined on stage by the Portland team Lifesavas,  made up of Vursatyl and Jumbo the Garbage Man (who wore a “Less Drama, More Music” t-shirt).

Their hour-long set included the first Blackalicious single “Swan Lake” and some new material, including the song “Blacka,” from their upcoming album (due out in March).

In the mean time, check out the East Bay Funk from this song.

Openers for the show were Our-Reality and Chaz Ultra.

Vursatyl

Vursatyl from the Lifesavas