Blackalicious - Blender

ARTISTS

Blackalicious

Founding members of the progressive hip-hop group Blackalicious Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley) and Gift of Gab (T.J. Parker) met in a Sacramento high school in 1987. Xcel went on to form the SoleSides Crew at the University of California at Davis along with DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker. Gift of Gab joined Xcel in 1992 to form Blackalicious, and, bringing the SoleSides members into the group, released their first single, "Swan Lake," on SoleSides Records in 1994. The label folded by 1997 and was reborn as Quannum. In 2000 Blackalicious released their first full-length album, Nia, and later that year were signed by MCA. The critically acclaimed Blazing Arrow, released in 2002, featured appearances by De La Soul, Ben Harper, Zack de la Rocha and Gil-Scott Heron.

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