Spotlight
Gift Rapping
The voice behind Blackalicious blazes on
Don't let money change ya. That's the message of "Deception," arguably the most well-known and anthemic track by Bay Area duo Blackalicious. It's also a creed the group's vastly skilled, tongue-twisting MC Gift of Gab (née Timothy Parker) seems to have taken to heart. He’ll be headlining a show at Burt’s Tiki Lounge next Wednesday. The Alibi caught up with him in advance.

Jazzed
One Voice Invokes Two More
Patti Littlefield pays tribute to Etta James and Dinah Washington
Vocalist Patti Littlefield can’t recall the song, but she knows who was singing on her mother’s radio. “The first song I remember hearing was Dinah Washington,” she says. “I remember thinking—as a 3-year-old or whatever, I was very, very young—that I wanted to be a singer, because of her vibrato, the way her voice was.”

Sonic Reducer
Black Bananas Rad Times Xpress IV · Eddy Current Suppression Ring So Many Things · Grimes Visions
This week we listened to Black Bananas, Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Grimes.
Flyer on the Wall
Bass Fiesta
A Culkin in a wizard costume is the mascot of the all-ages, $1 Bass Fiesta, happening at Synchro Studio (512 Yale SE) on Friday, Feb. 24. Silhouetta, D. Swift and Archaea provide deep house and Southwestern bass from 7 p.m. to midnight. (Jessica Cassyle Carr)