Artist: Gift of Gab
Best Album: The Craft
Best Song: The Ride of Your Life
This Letter Could Have Been About: George Clinton, Geto Boys, Guru, GZA

Why I’m Writing About This Artist: Pure goddamn talent, that’s why.  This is another case where I’m using a solo artist as a stand-in for his group work; Gift of Gab is also the frontman for Blackalicious, and The Craft is technically a Blackalicious album.  All of the artists I’ve mentioned so far have specialized in bombast in one way or another; Gift of Gab is all about flow, to the point where I used to use The Ride of Your Life in my language arts classes to teach poetry.  I’d play the song and tell the kids to use their hands to show me what the song was doing, and use that to pivot into a discussion of meter and flow.  Gift of Gab is laid-back smooth hiphop, not party music– and, to be honest, picking a best song was almost irrelevant for him because the guy specializes in albums.  His songs are frequently kinda gibberish, too; the song below being a good example.  Paying attention to the words isn’t the point with Gift of Gab; turn it up a bit, lay back, close your eyes, and just listen to the sound.

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