If you've got a taste for some scrumptious Northern California hip-hop that's been
marinated with the likes of DJ Shadow and seasoned with years of touring and
underground tapes, then you need to try a little bit of The Gift of Gab and Chief Xcel.
More than just the flavor
of the month, they're...
Words and photos
by True 54
BLACKALICIOUS
The Gift of Gab
Y
OU'VE BEEN MAKING
records for a few years
but are just starting to get
recognition now. Does it feel
Chief Xcel
like it's been a long time coming, and is that frustrating?
The Gift of Gab: Quannum, our crew, has built a fan base, like a cult
following, and it's growing, and it's rewarding for us to be able to go to
other parts of the world and get shown love and have our name on the
radio. I wouldn't say it's been frustrating; we still have career goals, but
when we look at how far we've come, I'm excited. As far as the album
taking so long, we recorded over 50 songs, but we wanted to make sure
we represented something that was from our soul.
What are those career goals?
Chief Xcel: We're working really hard to build a comprehensive
body of work, and have been working together since 1987. We have a
lot of role models: people like Tito Puente in the seventies, who's still
doing his thing. He's amassed a body of work of over a hundred
records. Look at people like DJ Krush from Japan, in his forties, still
getting top dollar and making records. We're striving for longevity, so
you can look at our work and see logical progression from beginning
to end, and have something in each piece that is special to different
people for different reasons.
Gab: And also timeless. We strive to make music that you could dig ten
years from now or you could have heard ten years ago and you still
would have dug it.
Explain the meaning of the album's title, Nia. It's a Swahili word
for "purpose," so what is your purpose?
Xcel: The underlying theme of the record is this: we're living in the
year 2000, and a 14- or 15-year-old kid today has a million times more
access to information than we did at 14 or 15. With that in mind, the
bottom line is stay true to self. No matter what messages you get bom-
barded with, through the media or whatever, stay true to the purpose
within you that makes life worth living, that you're passionate about.
Our purpose is to make music.
How do feel about the label "experimental hip-hop"?
Gab: We've gotten that label, but to us all hip-hop is about being
experimental; it's similar to jazz in that there's no limit and no rules to
it. The music is about originality and different styles. What Xcel does,
and what DJ Shadow does, and what Lyrics Born does, musically, is
use a piece from any genre of music and make it into a whole new
piece of work. Hip-hop is just universal
like that. When people see something that's
different, they want to create a new label for it,
but to me it's just hip-hop.
Xcel: The problem I have with the term "experimental
hip-hop" and what it's come to mean is that a lot of cats try to
use that term as a banner to justify mediocrity. It's cool to say
you're going to stretch the envelope if you've mastered the basic
fundamentals. Often producers want to put themselves under
that banner but their shit is just wack, and they can't even name
ten classic breakbeats. Experimentation is the underlying core of
hip-hop and that allows it to constantly re-invent itself, from Three
Feet High and Rising to It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
to Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde. But in each one of those examples,
the creators were already masters of the fundamentals.
What's the last thing that inspired you, that made you
want to write a rhyme or make a beat?
Xcel: Denzel Washington's performance in The Hurricane-
incredible. But all forms of art, and different people's
approaches to their different disciplines, inspire me.
Gab: Seeing my family this past holiday season. It just rein-
forced what I already knew, that I have this whole village of
people who have my back no matter what.
What's the last thing that pissed you off?
Gab: It sounds petty, but this flu, 'cause I just got over
another cold.
Xcel: Ignorance on every level. From a journalistic standpoint,
it irritates me when people who are obviously ignorant when it
comes to hip-hop culture review records. I'm speaking specifical-
ly about a member of the English press. It was the specific writer,
not the publication, 'cause they gave us love, but that writer
pissed me off. If you're gonna be writing about something, be
knowledgable about what you're writing.
If you could sit down with any person in history and have
a conversation, who would it be?
Gab: Bob Marley. He's the person who comes to mind at this
moment. We would just build on music, and everything else.
And we would definitely smoke a fat joint so we could talk on
that level.
Xcel: Mansa Khan Khan Musa. He was an emperor of Mali
back in the time right after Muhammed died. He went on a
pilgrimage to Mecca, and en route he spent so much gold that
he devalued gold in all of Egypt. Gold was worth nothing in
Egypt for five or ten years. The other person I'd like to talk to
is Hannibal, because I want to know how you take elephants
over the Alps.
Hieroglyphics returns with
DEL
the funky homosapien
Both Sides of the Brain
Album in stores March 7th
Coming soon from Hiero:
Souls of Mischief - Trilogy: Conflict, Climax, Resolution
Pep Love from the Prose Ascension
And Casual - TBA
Visit us at www.hierogylphics.com
Hiero Imperium Recordings
or www.funkyhomosapien.com
P.O. Box 10871 Oakland, CA 94610
Tel: 510.444.5351
nis18 grit to esbi2 dito Del