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Blackalicious Announces U.S. Concert Tour To Kick Oakland, CA, August 9, 2005— Blackalicious has announced that their long awaited national concert tour will kick off on August 31, 2005 in Sacramento, California. Set to release their 5th full-length studio album The Craft on September 27, 2005, Blackalicious hits the road in full force to prove that their "craft" has been well worth the wait. Dates for Blackalicious’ US tour are as follows: Wednesday, August 31st Sacramento, CA Thursday, September 1st Arcata, CA Friday, September 2nd Eugene, OR Saturday, September 3rd Vancouver, BC Sunday, September 4th Victoria, BC Wednesday, September 7th Park City, UT Thursday, September 8th Denver, CO Friday, September 9th Lawrence, KS Saturday, September 10th Columbia, MO Monday, September 12th Bloomington, IN Wednesday, September 14th North Hampton, MA Thursday, September 15th New York, NY Balancing deep thought with visceral impact, The Craft features 15 new tracks and is the group's most accomplished release to date. The album is the duo's first collection of new material since 2002 and also marks their debut release on Anti Records. Emerging from the influential Bay Area indie scene of the mid-90s, The Gift of Gab, one of the most respected MCs in the game today, and phenomenal producer/DJ Chief Xcel, fused together to form Blackalicious. Since impacting the music world in 1995 with their critically acclaimed debut album Melodica, the pair’s innovative compositions and insightful lyrics have provided a roadmap for hundreds of underground artists to follow. Gab and Xcel’s relationship as the MC and DJ/Producer reflects the core artform of hip-hop, and the duo now claims five groundbreaking albums and EPs to their credit. The Craft reveals one of global hip-hop's best loved, most critically acclaimed crews in the midst of yet another artistic breakthrough. Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab have created a record that represents state-of-the-art hip-hop with an expansive worldview. The music has such sonic depth and lyrical ambition that it can proudly stand alongside the work of Bay Area funk fathers Sly Stone and Shuggie Otis, as well as hip-hop classics like Outkast's Aquemini, The Roots' Things Fall Apart and Gang Starr's Daily Operation. From its opening, the album moves from peak to peak, including the Prince-ly rush of the album’s first single "Powers", a sinuous funk summit with George Clinton on "Lotus Flower", and the seductive meta-futurist soul of "Automatique," which features special guest vocals from Floetry. Blackalicious founded one of the nation’s leading independent labels Quannum Projects in 1991, along with DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker. Chief Xcel and The Gift of Gab remain active owners and both released side projects on Quannum in 2004. Gift of Gab released his solo debut Fourth Dimensional Rocketships Going Up and Chief Xcel put out a Fela Kuti mixtape entitled The Underground Spiritual Game, as well as Maroons: Ambush with Lateef. For more info go to Blackalicious.com or Anti.com. |
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