Shabazz Palaces: Black Up (Sub Pop)

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  02 Sep 2011 in Music

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Sup Pop’s first hip hop signee is a prodigy of the early ’90s. A brainchild of former Digable Planets member, Butterfly (now absurdly named Palaceer Lazaro), Shabazz Palaces is an experimental potpourri that can best be described as prog-hop.

Hell, it even follows the tradition of prog-rock in track naming; the best song off of Black Up is the synth-heavy-nigh-dubstep-logic-defying ‘Swerve…the Reeping of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding).’

As hyperbolic as it may sound, to praise Shabazz Palaces further would be as mouthful as the names of their songs.

LISTEN TO: ‘Swerve…’, ‘Yeah You’
IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU’LL DIG: Anti-Pop Consortium, Anticon, Digable Planets
RATING: 4

Go black and never go back at www.shabazzpalaces.com.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajk0kEi41Vc[/youtube]