A GIFTED GAB GROWS HIS SOUND

Gift Of Gab: Dreamin (featuring Del and Brother Ali)
From Escape 2 Mars (Cornerstone RAS, 2009)

In his latest effort alluding to interstellar travel, Gift Of Gab brings his seasoned flow back to end the naughts. To keep it Cali, Gab enlists the help of DNAEBEATS as well as Del The Funky Homosapien, Brother Ali, and some of his Quannum cohorts.

From the bouncy “In Las Vegas” to the soulful “Dreamin” to the eclectic “Electric Waterfalls,” the album covers a lot of ground sonically. “Dreamin” has a nice muted trumpet behind layers of piano, strings, and handclap snares with a haunting vocal sample that then leads into live vocals to finish the hook, a trick you don't often hear pulled off, especially so successfully.

The latin percussion of “El Gifto Magnifico” brings added life to an already vivacious Gab. A club friendly hook keeps the party going on the track before yielding to a guitar-led and more subdued vocal approach on “Lightyears.”

Although the album falls flat in the middle, it rebounds nicely with his spitfire flow over a skitterish beat on “Rhyme Travel.” Clearly, as an MC his skills have not diminished. While it's hard to fault him for trying to grow his sound from past albums with Chief Xcel as the duo Blackalicious, it's the production as a whole that keeps “Escape 2 Mars” grounded on Earth.

Side Note: Over at his official site's store, you can also find the track “El Gifto Magnifico” free for download and can also sample through the rest of the album. The full intro can be heard in this web commercial promoting the album, where at the end you'll find another little gift.