Blackalicious' Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab are among the most diligent and reverent technicians in hip-hop, so it feels oddly appropriate that their third album, The Craft, should bear such a workmanlike title. Painstakingly detail-oriented and lyrically dense, the record is another labor of love that puts as much emphasis on the labor as on the love. With an ambitious expanse that falls somewhere between the eclectic sprawl of 2000's Nia and the more-streamlined funk of 2002's Blazing Arrow, it appears as if every square inch of The Craft has been fussed over to such an extent that Blackalicious's calculated risks and controlled experiments can sometimes make the album seem more science project than artwork.
Following the release of Blazing Arrow, both group members spent time with other projects-- Gift of Gab with his 2004 solo album 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up and Xcel with his underappreciated Lateef and the Chief collaboration Maroons: Ambush. And evidently this time apart allowed the two to approach their partnership rejuvenated and ready for some serious woodshedding, as they reportedly recorded dozens of tracks before pruning down to these relatively lean 14 songs. Despite this strenuous editing process, however, The Craft can remain a frustratingly uneven listen. Brimming with confidence, the duo plows through ideas both familiar and novel. Fans of the group's previous work-- and of Solesides/Quannum-related material in general-- will find treats within The Craft's many folds, but its irregular terrain will likely prevent consensus about which tracks represent the peaks and which the troughs.
The most noteworthy change to Blackalicious' sound is a pronounced increase of live instrumentation. On paper, the extensive use of live drums, guitars, and strings might seem a nod toward creating more conventional songs, but in practice this blend has unquestionably resulted in some of the weirdest tracks of the group's career. Xcel integrates the instruments so seamlessly into his samples that it's often difficult to pinpoint what's what. On opener "World of Vibrations" the mix segues abruptly from the song's daffy, almost Joe Meek-like chorus into a sultry breakdown of rippling guitars, impassioned female vocals, and shimmering dub effects; it's an interlude as beguiling as it is unexpected.
Much more straightforward is "Powers", the album's effervescent first single. With its bouncy layers of new-wave guitars, strange Manfred Mann keyboards, and Go! Team exclamations, this track resembles an outtake from a failed hip-hop Broadway revue, but is salvaged by Gift's adroit melodic work on the verses and Xcel's rubber-limbed production. Even better are adventurous tracks like "Side to Side", which features Lateef and Pigeon John exchanging verses with Gift of Gab over a loony, oboe-fed sway, the unrelenting pound of "Egosonic War Drums", or the bracing prison reform drama "The Fall and Rise of Elliott Brown", which is fortified by Xcel's well-doctored horn samples.
Throughout the album Gift of Gab showcases his still-astonishing verbal dexterity and enunciation, chiseling every syllable into the pavement despite rarely breaking from a full sprint. But if you've tired of his "I still think abstract/ Stay metaphysical/ And challenge what is really real" act in the past, it's unlikely that anything here will alter your viewpoint, particularly on tracks like "Rhythm Sticks" where he resorts to the tired riff of spelling out the name Blackalicious. ("...A is for the absolute that dwells everywhere you can't see/ C is for creating...") Such missteps aside, Gabby is at his most persuasive when he slows down a bit and lets the game come to him, especially on autobiographical numbers like "My Pen & Pad" or the set-closing title track. And though these numbers must overcome some threadbare "This ain't music, it's my life" clichés, there can be little doubting the emotional heft in Gift's delivery, or in the inspired connections that Blackalicious manage to discover whenever they're hard at work together.
