Haze and Afrofuturism: Shabazz Palaces’ alternative hip hop looks to the past and the future at the same time.
What does a world look like in which the knowledge and technologies of diasporic African communities are dominant? Sun-Ra and Octavia Butler, Kool Keith and Michel Basquiat – they all dreamed an alternative world, an alternative history, an alternative aesthetics of liberation. Artists like Moor Mother or Janelle Monaé, or even: Shabazz Palaces, are following in their footsteps today.
What sounds like a collective is now Ishmael Butler’s solo project. Founded in 2009 and based in Seattle, of all places, he combines Afrofuturistic sound worlds with hip hop, now on this mini album with just seven songs. But they manage to draw their listeners deep into Shabazz Palaces’ world.
Even though a guest from the alternative rap cosmos can be heard on almost every song, such as Lavarr the Starr or Geechi Suede from New York, the album as a whole seems surprisingly coherent and a return to Shabazz’s signature sound, which is firmly rooted in jazz Palaces. Where trap elements were recently experimented with on ILLUSIONS AGO, thick haze clouds are once again blowing through dark sound spaces firmly rooted in jazz. Particularly nice: “Woke Up In A Dream” together with son Lil Tracy.