Over the course of 2009, two EPs and a video appeared on the internet and were attributed to a little-known outfit going under the name Shabazz Palaces. We knew they were from Seattle and we were later told that Sub Pop was releasing their album and that the front-man/only-credited-member was previously of ‘90s hip-hop duo (nee trio) Digable Planets. We still know this and not much else—a rarity these days given that an artist’s narrative has usually been formulated, disseminated and mythologised on the internet before the album is pressed. Though, for all intents and purposes, Shabazz Palaces’ mystery is their narrative and this adds a fascinating element to the amorphous sound of their debut album, Black Up.
The album’s lyrics and beats come out of left-field, incorporating vocal and horn lines as well as samples that recall the more expressionistic facets of Madlib or Dilla’s oeuvre. The use of these sounds often echoes the sparseness of dubstep and the presence of snippets of industrial noise, carefully broken beats and cosmic peals result in sounds that would be at home on a Brainfeeder or Stones Throw release. Lyrically the album is at one end all paeans for girls seen in clubs and at the other it’s an often derisive examination of the representation of hip hop within contemporary music and culture: “Things are getting blacker, but blacker’s getting whiter”. Black Up has the dark undertones and abstract leanings of Cannibal Ox and the often unrelenting seriousness of El-P. It’s a ‘very hip hop’ album but one that articulates the evolving sounds and attitudes of the genre—it’s growth in a post-“hip hop is dead” world, if you will…
