Sacramento rapper Gift of Gab, of duo Blackalicious, dies at age 50
Sacramento rapper Timothy Parker, better known as Gift of Gab, has died at age 50, his collaborator and friend of more than three decades announced Friday morning.
Parker died last week, wrote Xavier Mosley, aka Chief Xcel.
The pair made up the hip-hop duo Blackalicious. Mosley announced Parker’s passing in a post to the duo’s official Instagram page.
“He returned peacefully to the essence on June 18, 2021,” Mosley wrote.
Mosley, who called Parker his “friend and brother of 34 years,” wrote in vivid detail about meeting him in 1987 and growing as artists over the following decades. The two were classmates at John F. Kennedy High in Sacramento’s Pocket neighborhood.
“He was a junior and I was a sophomore. I had moved to Sac earlier that summer ... We had a home economics class together, Mr. Hightower, third period. He sat in the row directly behind me. Tim being from So Cal and me being from the Bay, we would argue all class period about who was doper, Ice T or Too Short.”
One day in high school, Mosley wrote, “(Parker) calls me and says, ‘Yo X, I need a DJ.’
“So I’m thinking he’s asking me to DJ for him for a talent show or school dance so I say, ‘For when?’ Tim then replies ‘Forever’ and I say ‘Cool.’ That day marked the beginning of our journey.”
Gift of Gab was known for his tongue-twisting lyricism. The pair formed Blackalicious in the early 1990s, while Mosley attended UC Davis. The duo released four studio albums between 1999 and 2015.
Parker suffered kidney failure in 2014, Mosley wrote. He had a kidney transplant in early 2020, according to a GoFundMe page that raised more than $31,000 for his medical costs.
“(H)e began to work with even more fervor,” Mosley wrote. “He would do dialysis 4 days a week for eight hours a day and still tour, write, and record. He felt that after 3 decades of working together we were just hitting our stride.”
