Blazing Arrow
by Blackalicious
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Blackalicious bestography
Blazing Arrow is ranked as the best album by Blackalicious.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Blazing Arrow on YouTube
Blazing Arrow track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Blazing Arrow rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 1 hour ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | PapaShiz86 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2002 | 44/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 48/100 | 11 |
| 2026 |  LedZep | cool stuff | 95/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Norman Bates | Top 100 Music Albums of 2002 | 17/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | LedZep | Hip Hop - ATLiens, Bulletproof Wallets & Labor Days | 9/100 | - |
| 2026 |  ERadio | Top 70 Music Albums of 2002 | 27/70 | 3 |
| 2026 | cicadelic | CultureDose Best Albums 2002 | 6/30 | - |
| 2026 | blueandthemoon | Top 61 Music Albums of 2002 | 6/61 | 5 |
| 2026 |  baystateoftheart | Top 51 Music Albums of 2002 | 24/51 | 3 |
| 2026 |  ButterThumbz | Even More Scientific Abstract Type Shit! | 28/73 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 99 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 313 | |||
Blazing Arrow collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 33 members
Blazing Arrow ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 90 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/20/2026 04:14 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,692 | 70/100 |
| ! | 06/10/2026 07:09 | cicadelic | 14,026 | 73/100 |
| ! | 05/08/2026 05:21 | Proto | 4,309 | 33/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.4/100, a mean average of 76.6/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.0/100. The standard deviation for this album is 15.2.
Blazing Arrow favourites
Showing all 9 members who have added this album as a favourite
Blazing Arrow forum mentions
BestEverAlbums 07/10/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5369): By blueandthemoon
pedro1976 04/27/2026 06:54 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
NoisyBeast 07/31/2023 08:52 in What album are you listening to right now?Blazing Arrow comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 03/17/2020 17:06 | #248818 | TOP COMMENT
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Sacramento duo Blackalicious is fronted by one of the most underrated MC's in the business, Gift of Gab, whose raps are jam-packed with internal rhymes, allusions, metaphors, ten-cent words, and amazing tongue-twisting feats of skill. Blazing Arrow, one of the richest, most captivating albums ever to emerge from the hip hop underground, is surely the Blackalicious release on which these skills are most evident. "4000 Miles," featuring Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 fame, is one of many highlights here: "Your mind is captured with tactics to get you back to the fatness / And you still want to battle just how long does this last? / We have the fashion to classic the pure love satisfaction / Is when the magic is captured live-action ain't tangible." Groovy. Funky. I wish they'd made many more albums, but for me this one hasn't come close yet to wearing out its welcome.
This is an album with a playful, almost cartoonish mood throughout its running time. And just as if it were actually aimed towards children, - who as a general rule have a shorter attention span - it keeps changing style after style to keep you engaged, while maintaining a surprising and refreshing positive/optimistic attitude ("Free! Like a bird out in the wind in the night Like a 747 to LA that's in flight Free! Like a garden flourishing in the wind Like a student bout to do it when he's graduatin' Free! From any of the energy perception Can never be defined create the definition within Free! Just lovin' life itself and never pretend to be Anything other than the man I was meant to be Travel through time and get a glimpse of the centuries To come a better day is promised remember Free, like my nephew in a few months about to be out the penitentiary"). All these aspects lead to an album that provides tons of fun.
It's a fun hip hop album. I enjoy listening to it, though I wouldn't call it the greatest thing I've ever listened to. I'll definitely be returning to it for more listens!
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