Shabazz Palaces Continue Their Streak Despite Brevity On 'Robed In Rareness'

While rap is generally a young person’s game, Ishmael Butler almost single handedly proves that the old heads still have something to say. 

While many legends coast on records from the 90s and signature moments, Butler is constantly looking forward, tapping into distant galaxies with his Shabazz Palaces project. A fusion of Afrofuturism and electro-funk highlighted by a discourse on the finer things in life (mostly sexual), Shabazz Palaces has always been a hybrid of classic cool and an exploration of highly classified cosmic wanderings.

On Butler’s new Shabazz project, a mini-LP entitled Robed in Rareness, the 54-year-old MC doesn’t just lead the vanguard, he is the vanguard. On the family affair standout “Woke Up in a Dream,” Butler cues up a beat and invites his son, emo-rap stalwart Lil Tracy to match. Over grimy synths and sporadic, sixteenth note hi hats, Butler free associates, polishing verbal diamonds and tossing them off like they’re dime a dozen. It’s not that he doesn’t value his words, but the bars are so consistently quotable they flow downstream like a placid river stream. “Every time I bless a script it’s a precedent,” he spits, before adding: “Of the jiggy OGs I’m the President.”

Ishmael Butler is the bridge between the golden age of rap and its present. It’s not hyperbolic to suggest that he’s been the most relevant voice in rap since he emerged with Digable—equal parts alien and shit-talking Brooklyn transplant—in 1993. Sure, after Digable disbanded in ’95 Butler went silent—the communications from distant planets dried up and left nothing but a dial tone. But just as quickly as he left he emerged with a fully-formed, aesthetically diamond-sharp new project in Shabazz. From early records like 2011’s Black Up and 2020’s The Don of Diamond Dreams up to this new project, Butler has continued to stretch the boundaries of what this project can be.

Robed in Rareness continues this throughline, floating along thanks to the power of vibes and aspirations as much as it does forceful musical moments. If there’s a critique of this album it’s that: This is a project less urgent than previous Shabazz releases. Butler is content coasting on his signature sound and whether or not you’re content listening to it is a matter of taste. By that estimation, few have done it as good for as long as Ishmael Butler has, and the light, nimble, casual nature of Robed in Rareness makes it a pleasant interlude within the Shabazz Palaces discography.