Blackalicious

A review could never, ever do this one justice – they were relentlessly good and the vibe was sweetened and ripened and my goodness! I hope they loved Hobart as much as we loved them!

The Uni Bar in Tasmania is notoriously cavernous. Despite that, the space that people didn’t fill was made up for by the energy that was generated, even from the early part of the evening.

Blackalicious, who are primarily a hip hop duo (Gift of Gab and Xcel), teamed up with two backing singers and a keyboard player to make things move a little in Hobart.

The evening began with some fine dubiness from DJ BTC, stepped up a big bit more with Damaged Goods – three turntables happening – sweet!

And then – and then – BLACKALICIOUS. It didn’t take long for Hobart’s erstwhile recalcitrance to fall away as the crowd surged forward towards the stage.

Beats, scratches, voices, keyboards and Gift of Gab’s maddening slick and swifty rhymes took our collective breathes away –

The question still remains….Is Gift of Gab really rapping the unrappable?

When he is rapping so hard and so fast that language becomes unrecognisable to the human ear – is he really saying words?

The backing singers added an air of R and B to the set up – sounds that may sound processed when coming from a studio added harmony and rhythm to the show and the keyboardist provided melody and varied wild sounds.

The set was long – Gift of Gab communicated genially with the audience and the encore was madly appreciated. The audience not only chanted for more – they were panting for it.

The only vague criticism would have been about the sound system – a system apparently designed for rock and not the chunky hearty deep beats and vocals that Blackalicous were throwing at the audience.

It was Blackalicious’s first gig in Hobart. We hope they return.

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