Timothy J. Parker, better known as Gift of Gab, came up during the golden age of hip-hop in the mid-’90s, first gaining fame with the 1999 Blackalicious track “Alphabet Aerobics.” The track showcased a dizzying display of increasingly accelerated alliterative rhymes by Parker as he coursed through each letter of the alphabet.
One of the greatest to ever do it,” said Xavier “Chief Xcel” Mosley, Parker’s longtime production partner and other half of Blackalicious, in a statement.
“I just decided I was not going to let this define me, and I continued to tour,” Parker told The Chronicle following a kidney transplant in March 2020.
The two eventually formed Blackalicious while Mosley attended UC Davis and was a part of the group Solesides, which eventually became the Quannum Projects.