DIGABLE PLANETS

Reachin’ (A New Refutation Of Time And Space) (reissue, 1993) lIGHT IN THE ATTIC 8/10

Sci-fi debut from Shabazz Palaces frontman’s first rap group

hip-hop had been sampling jazz records long before Digable Planets came along in 1993 and reformulated Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers’ “Stretching” as the foundation for their first single, “rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”. But few artists in the jazz-hop movement of the early 1990s used those old Impulse! and Blue Note records to create such a fantastical world. The trio’s first LP straddles the whimsical and the everyday, the intergalactic and the earthbound. Over a collage of samples by herbie hancock and hamilton Bohannon, opener “It’s Good To Be here” builds a sci-fi origin story for the Planets as space aliens who “split to Earth to resurrect the funk”. They elaborate on that mythology throughout Reachin’, which lends the music a sense of play and discovery. Plus, the Planets’ concerns are grounded in the real world: “Pacifics” bemoans street violence as they walk through their neighbourhood, while “La Femme Fetal” makes a humane case for reproductive rights. A quarter-century later, the sentiments and sounds feel remarkably fresh, as though the Planets just landed their spaceship in Brooklyn. Extras: 4/10. Liner notes from Larry Mizell Jr, featuring a new interview with Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler.