producers: chief xcel, lyrics born, lateef

guests: lyrics born, lateef, erinn anova, dj quest

Let's give it away, right at the beginning: this reviewer considers this to be the best album of 1999 for us European cats, and will most possibly be the best in 2000 for you US cats. And if you doubt this, then you just don't know. It's about the 'purpose', and while on the 'intro' "Searching" they say, that they still are looking for theirs, after listening to this album, we have the strange feeling, that they just don't want to admit, that they've already found it. A organic flute, piano, jazz background and the 'nia' singing we will hear throughout the album, carries the spoken language by Erinn Anova and Gift Of Gab, saying "searching, for everything already there" until we realize that "the struggle is the blessing".

The boom bap, and another flute enters on "The Fabulous Ones", that has Gab at his most braggadocios. On "Do This My Way", the musicality gets further explored, with Chief Xcels organic compositions, and rhyme wise Lyric Born lends his indisputable talent to this track, before with "Deception", one of the best tracks of the "A2G EP" resurfaces on here again. The story about this rapper named Cisco is still as compelling as it was the first time around. And following this, it's "A To G" itself, appearing again here, and it's still dope when Gab spits "I be the big, bad body rocking Bombay to boulevard bully back / better bring a bomb to the battlefield / bloody black beats bringing bottoms that boom / basically build barriers bewilder buffoons".

The almost spoken word rhyming of the story telling "Cliff Hanger", over a ever changing musical and deep beat, leads up to the possibly nicest track on here "Shallow Days". You have rarely hear a hip hop track that contained so much of the music purists' understanding of music, as well as the boom of your most favorite hip hop. This is the "40oz" of this album. Gab tells a story of him talking to another cat, and he goes "I said 'I'm all about protecting mine, but neglecting minds for getting left behind. / why don't you change your environment?' / he said 'This is all I know, / plus my fam's all that I got, I can't go' / I said 'you gotta make it for the fams' / 'damn,' he said 'I didn't make the ghetto, / the ghetto made the man' / I said 'you're more than just that,' / shook his hand, said 'Damn, you gotta find a way / to break the devil's master plan, peace'" and then goes on to confront the whole 'soft conscious' vs. 'real thug' rapper issue.

Blackalicious shares some light with Nikki Giovanni, for her spoken word world travel of accomplishments on "Ego Trip by Nikki Giovanni", somewhat mocking the impossible brags done by some hip hop heads out there. Passing by "You Didn't Know That Though", on "If I May", Chief Xcel puts a guitar to the beat, inspired singing by Erinn Anova and Lateef drops by to rhyme. Another dope and conscious track.

And by now, you realize how ridiculously dope this album is. With every track being worth writing pages about, like the dope "Dream Seasons" or the slow moving, very special "Smithzonian Institute Of Rhyme", with it's shuffling drums, the whispered rhymes, the sung chorus. Or maybe the best track of 1999 "Making Progress" with the most spiritual and proud rhymes in a long time (click here to read 'em), there's "As The World Turns", there's another very musical (man, check this piano and those drums) track called "Sleep", with Gift Of Gab showing how much he deserves the title that has the word 'art' in it (yes, I'm talking of 'artist'). Another track that you have to hear to believe how beautiful it is. And then finally to end things, there's a "Searching" revisited but at the same time very unique "Finding", to conclude the thoughts spoken, spread on this album.

Again: this reviewer considers this to be the best album of 1999 for us European cats, and will most possibly be the best in 2000 for you US cats. This bears all description, and each attempt fails to capture the least of it's qualities, genius and magic. This is the album you want to hear, own, and grow old with.