Tag Archive
Posts tagged The Ecstatic :
“not until you listen to Rakim on a rocky mountain top / have you heard hip hop extract the urban element which created it / and let a wide open country side illustrate it”
Shabazz Palaces \”Belhaven Meridian\”Shabazz Palaces \”Belhaven Meridian\”
Shabazz Palace’s general approach seems to categorically follow Saul Williams‘ above mandate. The fusions of North African rhythms and percussion, an attraction to space in the vein of Sun Ra, bottoming out synth bass lines and other electro influences all come together with the 64 Ali type swagger of rapper Ish (former Seattle constituent of Digable Planets). Capitalizing on the mystery of anonymity created by having no web identity and resources (his web site consists of only broke ass links—but you can pick up his two EPs from the store), the power and draw of his music seems to grow more you listen to it (and is maybe also a reason why a blog post can announce a video three months after it hit the web…). The song to the video—which is a dope homage to the 1977 classic Killer of Sheep (a film which Mos Def also referenced earlier this year with his album cover to “The Ecstatic”)—has Ish rapping like in most of his songs from an omniscient perspective as if he were some sort of prophet or griot with a cabalistic vision of American experience.