Word: gab
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Last Thursday, with the Quannam World Tour 2004, Gab was able to tour in Boston with his entire extended musical family, and the atmosphere was as intimate as any lakefront reunion picnic. Quannam Projects, formerly known as Solesides, was founded by DJ Shadow, Gab, Blackalicious DJ Chief Xcel and their friends in the scene around the University of California, Davis in 1992. DJ Shadow was the biggest draw, with a following only rivaled by Blackalicious themselves, followed by the duo Latyrx (made up of idiosyncratic MCs Lateef the Truth Speaker and Lyrics Born, who also has a new solo album...
...course being at the forefront of the evolution of hip-hop culture is nothing new for Gab. Blackalicious have garnered much critical acclaim for their interesting collaborations with other artists, especially musicians not known for fitting into the narrow hip-hop roles of DJ and MC. On Blazing Arrow, songs featured people such as slam poet and activist Saul Williams, Rage Against the Machine’s Zach De La Rocha and the legendary poet and jazz singer Gil Scott-Heron (most famous for his fiery work, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised?...
Although this approach worked extremely well on Arrow, Gab mentioned that on the next Blackalicious record he and Xcel will be taking a more concentrated musical approach. This announcement seems to dovetail well with many other recent traditional-minded releases by artists such as Aesop Rock, Sage Francis (via his Non-Prophets collaboration with Joe Beats), Soul Position (RJD2 and Blueprint) and Boston’s own Akrobatik, many of which have emphasized the classic rap duo sound (one MC rapping over melodic beats provided by one DJ) over more dramatic experimentation...
...Gab also has a new solo album coming out May 11th called 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up, and he says he is very excited about working with Seattle underground producers Vitamin B and Jake One, and getting a chance to be more of a “director” of the sound. But he claims that he and Xcel are still going strong. Even given the deep respect for traditional rap music that is currently being displayed, Gab claims that he and his labelmates are always looking towards future projects that “go beyond the borders...
While this album was created illegally, the debate surrounding intellectual property laws continues to wage on, as does the strong movement to find a proper balance between the rights of creator and audience. As a hugely active creator of culture, Gab is very interested in the ramifications of these policies for creativity and musicianship. When told of the voluntary Creative Commons licensing scheme (creativecommons.org) designed by Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig (who spoke at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute earlier this year on the subject) Gab said it sounds like a “dope idea...