Back in 2005, long before Jimmy Fallon even had a show for Harry Potter to demonstrate his rhyming skills on, the hip-hop duo Blackalicious—known for combining Chief Xcel’s dirty, pounding, Bay Area-style beats with Gift of Gab’s prodigious rapid-fire flow—dropped their third full-length album, The Craft, and promptly entered an extended phase of studio silence. Fast forward 10 years, an eternity in the rap game, and Blackalicious is coming back strong, as if The Craft never even happened. Xcel is making the room bounce once again, and Gab’s quick wit is articulate as ever. Moving past the traditional sample-and-scratch-heavy intro track, the first proper tune, “Blacka,” serves as a confident response to the gauntlet that Kendrick Lamar threw down earlier this year. The duo keeps up the pace over all 16 tracks, even managing a late climax with “Alpha And Omega,” ably assisted by Monophonics, DJ D Sharp and the Latyrx duo of Lateef and Lyrics Born. It’s refreshing to see that the resurgence of conscious hip-hop is bringing some of its greatest practitioners out of (unofficial) retirement.