Blackalicious-Blazing Arrow

 This is my jam right here. And yes, I am too much of a cracker to refer to anything as my jam. Anyway, back when I went to ASU and Hoodlum's was my hangout, they put Blazing Arrow on a listening post. I made a point of listening to everything on the listening posts in order to expand my musical horizons. What I heard was smart hip-hop with samples taken from Harry Nilsson's The Point. I loved The Point as a kid, so this album immediately drew me in. At the time the only hip-hop I had in my life were vague memories of being really into MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice in 6th grade. Blazing Arrow opened up a whole new world to me. When Blackalicious came to do a show at ASU and sign copies of Blazing Arrow, I shook Gift of Gab's hand and thanked him for opening my eyes. I could tell that he didn't seem too impressed with having opened the eyes of what he must have assumed was some sort of crazy metalhead (I had really long hair and a beard at the time). But he was gracious and I was happy. The end.