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ASPEN TIMES Search: Classifieds | Place an Ad January 24, 2007 News Sports Classifieds Back being Blackalicious Service Directory Arts & Entertainment By Joel Stonington Columnists January 24, 2007 Joel Stonington/The Editorials Aspen Times Hip-hop People Comments (0) Print Email duo Blackalicious, with rapper Gift of On the Hill The two members of Blackalicious - Bay Area Gab, performs an X Obituaries Games launch party Events Calendar native Chief Xcel (Xavier Mosley) and Gift of Gab tonight at Belly Up. Letters to the Editor (Tim Parker) of Los Angeles - are hard at work on Autos their own projects. Photo Galleries SERVICES Gab is working with rapper Lateef the Truth Archives Speaker, a longtime friend, on something called Business Directory "Underdogs," while Xcel is working on something RSS Feeds so secret he wouldn't even talk about it. Email Headlines Email Newsletter So Blackalicious is branching out. But that's not Road Conditions news to anyone who has heard the duo since the day Snow Conditions in 1988 when Gab asked Xcel to be his DJ back at Mountain Cams Kennedy High School in Sacramento. Click to Enlarge AROUND ASPEN

Dining Browse Aspen Times Photos Shopping "When we first met, we weren't friends at all," Xcel Bars & Nightclubs said. "We knew each other strictly through music. I Performing Arts knew him because he was the best of a handful of Live Music rappers at our high school. The more we sat down Gallery Happenings and talked, we found we shared a common interest Film in hip-hop." Area Attractions RECREATION Blackalicious met Latyrx, the duo of Lateef and Ski & Snowboard Lyrics Born, and DJ Shadow at the University of Nordic Skiing California, Davis. Under the name Solesides, they Golf released some singles, moved to Oakland and Fishing formed the record label Quannum. Biking Hiking Gab has upheld his high school status as one of the Rafting & Paddling best rappers around, and Xcel has made a name as In The Backcountry TRAVEL INFO one of the most confident and skilled producers in Lodging the business. His method of cutting songs, Transportation scratching and throwing down beats makes for Weather albums that break boundaries and shows that Road Conditions surprise. Get Arts and Entertainment Feeds MOUNTAIN LIVING Real Estate "I'm always trying out new things," Xcel said. "I try Education to stay with a basic foundation and build off that. It's Health that constant discovery and rediscovery that's the driving force for me." Employee Housing NEWSPAPERS http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20070124/AE/101240035 1/24/2007 Aspen Times News for Aspen Colorado - Arts and Entertainment Page 2 of 2

Citizen Telegram Grand Junction Free Part of that means listening to music, lots of music. His inspiration and influences range through rap, hip- Press hop, jazz and Afrobeat, among other genres. Eagle Valley Enterprise Leadville Chronicle Blackalicious has been prolific and varied since its 1992 debut and "Melodica," an EP single, in 1994. Post Independent Snowmass Sun Gift of Gab released his first solo recording in 2004, "4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up," and later Summit Daily in the year Xcel released "The Underground Spiritual Game," a mix tape centered around the collected Vail Daily music of Afropop pioneer Fela Kuti. Less than a month later, Xcel released "Maroons: Ambush" with The Vail Trail Lateef. Valley Journal Aspen Philanthropist By the end of 2005, Blackalicious released its third full-length album, "The Craft." Last year saw the release of a Gab mix tape and a live DVD of a Seattle performance.

More material is due out soon, as the studio remains the focus for both Xcel and Gab. As Xcel tells it, the show is one of the best places to practice and come up with new material. A Blackalicious concert is always a combination of well-rehearsed material and improv.

That constant creativity and excitement is what continues to drive Xcel. He said he tries to keep the feeling he had when he first started listening to rap records.

"The improv is what keeps things always changing," Xcel said. "It's falling into place and filling in the blanks. There's never one thing, it's just what's appropriate at the time."

Joel Stonington's e-mail address is [email protected]

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