Artist · chart history
Blackalicious
Band Sacramento United States Active 1992–2021
Blackalicious formed in 1992 in Sacramento, United States and was active until 2021. Blackalicious has 2 chart appearances on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2006–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Alphabet Aerobics”, which appears on 1 list with a best position of #559. The station that charted Blackalicious most often is WFNX (Boston, MA), with 1 appearance. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2006.
Blackalicious came out of Sacramento as a hip-hop duo with a perfect division of labor: Gift of Gab on the mic and Chief Xcel behind the decks and the boards. Gab was a verbal gymnast, stacking tongue-twisting, many-syllabled rhymes into dizzying runs, and Xcel wrapped them in warm, soulful production that kept the whole thing grounded.
"Alphabet Aerobics" is the showcase everybody remembers, a breathless display of the tongue-twisting speed and precision Gab was known for. Across four albums, from Nia (1999) and Blazing Arrow (2002) through The Craft (2005) to Imani Vol. 1 (2015), they stayed on the thoughtful, alternative end of the genre, releasing through Quannum Projects. The Craft carries "Powers", a warm, uplifting slice of boom-bap.
Gift of Gab died in June 2021, and the duo ended with him.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Blackalicious on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alphabet Aerobics | 1 | #559 | – | – | |
| 2 | Powers | 1 | #77 | – | 2006 |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 559 | Alphabet Aerobics | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s |
| 2006 | 77 | Powers | WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2006 |
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