Shabazz Palaces are the exploratory surgeons of the hip hop world. Theyve been cutting open the industry and rooting around inside it ever since their mystique filled introduction to the genre several years back. Comprised of hip hop arch deacon Ishmael Butler, formerly a member of the phenomenal Digable Planets, and beat master general Tendai Maraire, Shabazz Palaces have been tearing the game up since they sprung up out of nowhere with a slew of druggy, dubby tracks and flicking v signs at anybody who wanted a piece of them. Theyre a cryptic outfit, almost cult like, with ferociously obscure track titles and a cavernous sound that feels like they make their beats in an old oil drum. Nothing ever ends the way it starts with this group, they zig zag all over the place, creating ideas and immediately discarded them just in case someone considered getting even remotely comfortable. Butlers a recondite rapper, sitting with his feet dangling off the edge of the world and shouting out into the abyss whilst muscular jazz infused beats whistle round your earholes. They're beats that slither and squirm all over the place. Shabazz Palaces have picked up the experimental hip hop crown that was kicked away by cLOUDEAD a while ago and theyre intent on breaking it over their knee and building beats from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNXxd3yYDaM
