Style 43

So more free music has emerged on Myspace and this time it’s from one of my own personal heroes, Gift of Gab. First time I heard Blackalicious, I was hooked. Gab’s ridiculous wordplay on tracks like “Alphabet Aerobics” and his storytelling skills on joints like “Deception“, kept me captivated and got me into thinking about how lyrics were structured and how words could be manipulated for rhymes.

Admittedly Blackalicious‘ last release, “The Craft“, was weak by comparison to their earlier material but the body of solo work that Gab has built up over the years has been near faultless - check his 2006 “Supreme Lyricism” mixtape if you doubt it - and his recent Def Jux venture, “The Mighty Underdogs“, has gone from strength to strength.

So I was pleased to hear that a follow up to his 2004 solo album, “4th Dimensional Rocketships…“, was on the cards, and evern more pleased to hear that the first single is being given away for free. The track is everything you’d expect from the crazy wordsmith - complex rhyme structure and a flow more changeable than our weather. Personally, I love it, but I’m always a sucker for intricate wordplay.

The sophomore project, “Escape 2 Mars“, is due to be released 27 October and the single, “El Gifto Magnifico“, is available for download by right clicking and saving the link here.

Tags: Blackalicious, free shit, Gift of Gab, hip hop