10. Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) Digable Planets
This is the jazziest rap album you'll ever hear. The whole concept takes place at a hipster dive/café where the band's three rappers, all named after insects (Butterfly, Doodlebug, and Ladybug, being the only female in the band), spout rhymes like beat poets over funky basslines. If De La Soul were the "hippies of hip-hop," a label they later denounced, Digable Planets were the beatniks. Probably their most jazzy and famous number is "Rebirth of Slick," better known as "Cool Like Dat." And as if the name of the album wasn't a big enough clue, most of their rhymes centered on philosophical, trip-hop meditations on existentialism. Of course, they were also proud to represent New York City, laying down not one but two odes to the city so nice, they named it twice: "Where I'm From" and "Pacifics," which was featured in the movie "New York Is Red Hot." Perhaps the best songs though are the final two: "Swoon Units" and "Examination of What," two exercises in fluent, thoughtful poetry backed by powerful, uplifting beats. When it's done well, that's what rap is all about, and this album is a fine example of being just about as good as this musical genre gets.
Michael Perone has written for The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, The Island Ear (now titled Long Island Press), and The Long Island Voice, a short-lived spinoff of The Village Voice. He currently works as an Editor in Manhattan. And he still thinks Michael Keaton was the best Batman.
