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Ishmael Butler's Music Career

By atrewn
  • Digable Planets release debut album "Reachin'"

    Digable Planets release debut album "Reachin'"
    Digable Planets release debut album "Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)" on Pendulum/EMI Records. The album's single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," hits #15 on Billboard magazine's singles chart. This marks the first major musical achievement in Butler's career.
    Digable Planets' debut album
  • Digable Planets release "Blowout Comb"

    Digable Planets release "Blowout Comb"
    Digable Planets release their second studio album titled "Blowout Comb" on Pendulum/EMI Records. It was named "Album of the Year" by Time Magazine. The album speaks about rapping prowess and the inner city, black nationalism and the Five Percent Nation.
    More awards:
    "9th Wonder (Blackitolism)" from Blowout Comb
  • Digable Planets break up

    Early in 1995 following the release of the second album, the trio broke up after Ladybug Mecca left the group after learning she was not equally compensated for the equal work she put into creating, developing and supporting Reachin' and Blow Out Comb. She also had a tough time due to her mother just passing away and her father passing only ten months later. Some sources also note that the break up was due to creative differences,
  • Period: to

    Butler's first solo project fails

    Ishmael Butler fails to release a solo album "Ishmael Since 1999"
  • Cherrywine release "Bright Black"

    Butler's new group Cherrywine release album "Bright Black" which is not well received. The album, about women, cocaine, and relationships, has hip-hop influences but is not a hip-hop record. Meanwhile, Butler stars in two short films, "I am Ali" and "We Deliver."
    "What i'm Talking" from "Bright Black"
  • Digable Planets reunite for a reunion tour

    Digable Planets trio reunite for a reunion tour which finishes with the release of the compilation album "Beyond the Spectrum: the Creamy Spy Chronicles" on October 15, 2005.
    "A Nickel Bag of Funk" was remastered and featured on "Beyond the Spectrum: the Creamy Spy Chronicles"
  • Release of compilation album "Beyond the Spectrum: the Creamy Spy Chronicles"

    Release of compilation album "Beyond the Spectrum: the Creamy Spy Chronicles"
    Trio release a retrospective, compilation album "Beyond the Spectrum: the Creamy Spy Chronicles"
  • Surfacing of Shabazz Palaces

    Mid-2009, a song under the group name Shabazz Palaces appears out of nowhere and essentially unidentified on a blog. Yet, Butler's distinguishable voice is well recognized on the track.
  • Shabazz Palaces releases first LP "Black Up"

    Shabazz Palaces releases first LP "Black Up"
    Shabazz Palaces releases studio debut album "Black Up" on Sub Pop. It is met with considerable critical acclaim, known for its lyricism and experimental song structures. It is included on Metacritic's "Midyear Report: The Best Music of 2011 So Far."
    "Swerve" from "Black Up"
    "Black Up" full album stream
  • Shabazz Palaces releases two EPs

    Shabazz Palaces releases two EPs
    Shabazz Palaces releases two EPs "Shabazz Palaces" and "Of Light" under the label Sup Pop, which are initially sold in sleeves at a boutique in Seattle, Washington where Shabazz is located. The hip-hop collective consists of Ishmael "Palaceer Lazaro" Butler and mutli-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire who is the son of the Zimbabwean Mbira master Dumisani Maraire.
    Shabazz Palaces' "Find Out" from the EP "Of Light"