Digable planets
.jpg)
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Digable Planets performance at the Aggie Theater in December 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Albums | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Digable Planets is an American hip-hop trio specializing in jazz-rap and alternative hip-hop .
history
Digable Planets consist of the three musicians Ishmael Butler (born July 3, 1969 in Seattle , Washington ), Mary Ann Viera (born July 25, 1973 in Silver Spring , Maryland ) and Craig Irving (born February 20, 1967 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) .
The first two met in Massachusetts , where they both attended college . Mary Ann Viera later met Craig Irving at Howard University . In Brooklyn in 1991 the three of them decided to rap together under the name Digable Planets, and all of them gave each other names of insects because, in their opinion, like the group, they form symbioses and thus rule the world. Butler was called Butterfly ( butterfly ), Viera Ladybug ( ladybug ) and Irving Doodlebug ( ant lion ).
The trio's first single was the song Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat) , in which the brass section of the Jazz Messengers were sampled . The piece became her greatest success, reaching number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and being awarded the RIAA gold record for more than 500,000 copies sold . In the UK , too, it was able to stay in the charts for two weeks. The group also won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group with this title .
The accompanying album , Reachin '(A New Refutation of Time and Space) was both praised by critics and a commercial success, although the other singles from it, Where I'm From and Nickel Bags , largely went unnoticed. It reached number 15 on the Billboard 200 and, like Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat), was awarded gold by the RIAA.
Then the group went on a world tour. In contrast to other hip-hop artists, Digable Planets' performances were based on jazz concerts. There was a DJ - in this case King Britt , who called himself DJ Silkworm (DJ Seidenspinner ), matching the rest of the group - but there was also a live musician. However, it was often criticized that they only replayed the excerpts sampled in the songs.
As a result , fewer samples were used for the second album, Blowout Comb from 1994, and several original solos were recorded. The record was even better received by the critics than the debut, but could not repeat the sales success of the first album. Reasons were, on the one hand, the lack of a well-known single - 9th Wonder reached the Billboard Hot 100, but only made it to number 80 - and, on the other hand, the commercial breakthrough of the contrary gangsta rap , which began to dominate hip-hop.
After that, creative differences among the members led to the dissolution of the collective. However, the people involved continued to make music separately from each other.
In 2005, however, the group reunited and announced another album. Her label used this to release the compilation Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles and thus to remind the band again and possibly to gain new listeners. Despite some joint concerts, however, new music never appeared and Butler declared the final end of the Digable Planets in 2012 after a gig that was canceled at short notice, blaming Viera, with whom it was difficult to work together.
Nevertheless, the trio got together again for another concert at the end of 2015. In the summer of 2016, it turned into a whole tour. The recordings of these were released as a live album in mid-2017 .
Ishmael Butler also releases albums with the Shabazz Palaces project , most recently the record The Don Of Diamond Dreams in 2020 .
Discography
Albums
- 1993: Reachin '(A New Refutation of Time and Space)
- 1994: Blowout Comb
Compilations
- 2005: Beyond the Spectrum: The Creamy Spy Chronicles
Live albums
- 2017: Digable Planets Live
Singles
- 1992: Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
- 1993: Where I'm From
- 1993: Nickel Bags
- 1994: 9th Wonder
- 1995: Dial 7 (Axioms of Creamy Spies)
Awards
- 1993: Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)"
Web links
- Digable Planets at Allmusic (English)
- Digable Planets at laut.de
swell
- ↑ Chart results for Digable Planets at billboard.com
- ↑ Chart results for Digable Planets at officialcharts.com
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
- ↑ The Seattle Times: Ishmael Butler on Digable Planets: I think it's the end
- ^ Consequence of Sound: Digable Planets reunite after four years for hometown Seattle concert
- ↑ Jon Blistein: Digable Planets Plot 'Reachin' 25th Anniversary Reissue. Rolling Stone , December 7, 2017, accessed December 27, 2017 .
- ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/alben-der-woche-exsmith-o-brien-pimienta-1.4878208
- ^ Search for Digable Planets in the grammy.com database