From being praised as one of the founding members of Digable Planets, Ishmael Butler has reinvented himself as a sci-fi director with his Shabazz Palaces project. The project encompasses the heritage of Butler’s hip-hop beginnings with scenes from distant planets, creating an avant-garde brand of hip-hop that relies on narrative and fearless experimentation. Exotic Birds of Prey is Palaces’ latest LP, a quick seven-track outing that miraculously feels like watching an alien-filled thriller trilogy in less than an hour. Butler somehow fits every lofty idea and every otherworldly melody into this short outing. While the whole listening experience may feel like it goes by quickly, the space-aged production and heavenly verses stick with you way past the runtime. Exotic Birds of Prey has crash-landed from another universe in a theatrical display of cosmic tones for our listening pleasure.
Amid warping synths and syncopated production are equally mesmerizing vocal performances. This highly collaborative LP does it the right way, rather than cater to the wide range of guest appearances, the artists are brought into the Shabazz Palaces’ universe. Like any great sci-fi epic, the characters build a connection while the rest of the project is free to melt minds and roam in whichever alien-like sonic realm it pleases, but enough with the metaphors. This is electronic hip-hop in one of its highest forms, the two genres are no strangers to each other but Butler can make it into something entirely new by allowing his instrumentals to take on a life of their own. There is no star on Exotic Birds of Prey, Butler and company allow the concept of the album to unravel at its own pace while the vocals assist the unpredictable nature of the album.
This is not to discredit these verses though, they are just as face-melting as the rest of the LP. A song like “Angela” features stunning crooning while the verses on the single “Myths Of The Occult” harken back to hip-hop’s golden era while still sounding present and honed. Upon first listen, the vocals may seem sparse and oddly placed while the album could’ve easily fallen victim to the mistake of releasing the best songs on the album as singles, leaving the rest of the track list as an afterthought. That is not the way Shabazz Palaces creates albums though, the magic is in the attention to detail. Every wonky synth and every futuristic vocal appearance propels the album’s concept forward, never wasting a second of this short tracklist. Butler stripped down this album to its rawest form without sacrificing dense textures and experimental production choices, creating stellar moments like the punk-influenced highlight “Well Known Nobody”.
Blink and you might miss it, Shabazz Palaces’ Exotic Birds of Prey flies by quickly while leaving an ever-lasting impression.
