REVIEW: Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Shabazz Palaces - Black Up
MMMM1/2

Up until the past few months, Seattle hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces had been shrouded in a fair amount of mystery. Their initial, official promotional photo featured a man with what looked like a black hole – or a galaxy – for a face, seated in a sci-fi, CGI-generated planetary landscape. The image happened to be rather apropos when it came to representing the project. Following 2009’s self-released Of Light and Shabazz Palaces EPs, interest in the group only skyrocketed. While it’s not strictly a solo project per se, there is a particular individual who’s at the forefront of Shabazz Palaces ascent and music: Palaceer Lazaro (aka Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler of 90’s rap group Digable Planets). The latter fact will certainly be used to give context to Shabazz Palaces, but, honestly, there is nothing quite like this out there right now – Black Up, the debut album, proves it.

Presenting Shabazz Palaces in a cloud of mystery had more to do with allowing the music to speak for itself, but that mystery also conveniently complemented the experimental hip hop’s seductive tone, unpredictability, and almost enigmatic face. The “Album of the Year” tag has been used quite a bit with Black Up, and it’s not hard to hear why. Simply speaking, it is a black hole for the mind and ears; it is hypnotic and entirely thought provoking in a most inclusive way. Its universal aesthetic – with themes of race, equality, sex, politics, and religion and an eclectic mix of jazz, electro, ambient, soul, and hip-hop – imbues the album with a sound that maintains an intimacy while venturing out into the ether that hangs above. It all makes for a dark high that is equally eerie and alluring.

There are no distinct, or true, choruses to be found throughout Black Up, which you would tend to think would be a recipe for disaster. But in this case, Butler punctuates and magnifies the effect of each and every beat, sample, and riff with his smart, ruminative rhymes. With beats and songs changing tempo and direction when you least expect, cuts like the glitchy, ghostlike “free press and curl” and the jazzy, warped “Endeavors for Never (The last time we spoke you said you were not here. I saw you though.)” could have easily wound up rather cacophonous. But under the guide of Butler’s flow and lyrical detail, the music maintains a level of adventure while hitting with a penetrating chill and cadence.

Whether it’s the warped samples of voices or strings, Black Up plays out like an atmospheric fantasy – it’s reality from the clouds. It moves from chic to downright menacing, at times, never settling into one feel over another. “An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum” is centered around an inescapable, emotionally piercing loop of children’s voices that defines what it means to be “hypnotic”; when it’s over, it feels like you’ve been around the world and seen everything that you never knew existed. “Are you... Can you... Were you? (Felt)” is a smooth, soulful cut that embodies the age old adage that “The best things in life cannot be seen or touched, they must be felt with the heart.” Emotion conquers all. “Recollections of the wraith” sounds like trip-hop meets modern day R&B; the sexual undertones of both genres are only amplified in their union. “yeah you” rattles along with a throbbing, lo-fi bass loop that plants Butler’s words deep into the ears and subconscious. These and the other six songs make it nearly impossible for you to not find yourself deep inside the each track's sonic playground.

Black Up is a near masterpiece, keeping you guessing without ever losing grip of your attention. It’s an engaging album of what is, essentially, a unique blend of soulful hip-hop that awakens the curiosity in us all. Butler could have built these songs around memorable choruses, but, instead, he wisely spoke intently about the world. Against these sonic playgrounds, his words come to life and hit harder and deeper – making you realize that choruses are irrelevant when the perfect combination of sounds and words can unite to be incredibly evocative. In questions we find answers; outside of comfort we find truth. Black Up is a veil lifted and an inspiring journey through the mind that tastefully posits itself on the line between the explicit and the unassuming. Shabazz Palaces represents the riches that lie in the idiosyncrasies of life, and Black Up is a revelation in more ways than one.

Black Up is out today on Sub Pop.

MP3: Shabazz Palaces - "An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum"
MP3: Shabazz Palaces - "Swerve... the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)"