Digable Planets

Product Details

* Audio CD (September 27, 1993)
* Original Release Date: October 1, 1993
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Capitol
* Catalog Number: 27758
* ASIN: B000000W31
* Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette
* Average Customer Review: based on 43 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,202 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #4,623 in Music

Listen to Samples
To hear a song sample, click on "Listen" by that sample. Visit our audio help page for more information.

1. It's Good To Be Here Listen Listen
2. Pacifics (From The Soundtrack To The Motion Picture 'N.Y. Is Red Hot') Listen Listen
3. Where I'm From Listen Listen
4. What Cool Breezes Do Listen Listen
5. Time & Space (A New Refutation Of) Listen Listen
6. Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat) Listen Listen
7. Last Of The Spiddyocks Listen Listen
8. Jimmi Diggin Cats Listen Listen
9. La Femme Fetal Listen Listen
10. Escapism (Gettin' Free) Listen Listen
11. Appointment At The Fat Clinic Listen Listen
12. Nickel Bags Listen Listen
13. Swoon Units Listen Listen
14. Examination Of What Listen Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Digable Planets deliberately disavowed the toughness of hip-hop culture: the trio's leader called himself Butterfly, his foil Ladybug purred like Eartha Kitt, and they produced hooks out of lines like "We're just babies, man." Despite occasional flashes of sorrow (like the pro-choice recitation "La Femme Fétal"), the group's happy and laidback on this debut, with tracks made out of old jazz records and finger-snaps, and words that draw on 50s hipster slang. Reachin' spawned the Grammy-winning single "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," and after this album, their joyous Blue Note-and-black-lights bounce lost some of its novelty. --Douglas Wolk
Tag this product (What's this?)

Your tags: Add your first tag
Spotlight Reviews
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Search Customer Reviews


102 of 110 people found the following review helpful:
Get free y'all, March 28, 2000
Reviewer: Marc S. Libman (Brookline, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Listen in your belly, not your head. And get free... Funk is you funk is me...

peace I'm out

Was this review helpful to you? YesNo (Report this)

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
"We be to rap what key be to lock", July 1, 2005
Reviewer: Westley (The South) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)
Digable Planets released "Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)" in 1993 to great success. The CD went gold, as did their first single, "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," which peaked at #15 on the Top 100. The song was a huge breakthrough - it didn't sound like anything else on the radio. They even received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, losing to Toni Braxton, and "Rebirth of Slick" won Best Rap Group Single, beating out Arrested Development and Naughty by Nature among others. It's a terrific song, although it's lost some of its luster over the years from over-exposure, including a tackling by the American Idol finalists on a recent episode.

Their music is heavy on jazz samples, including Art Blakey, Steven Bernstein, and Eddie Harris. A few of the samples come from the legendary Blue Note label, which makes Digable Planet's concept and sound somewhat similar to US3 ("Cantaloop"). However, Digable Planet overlaid these samples with very laid-back raps, exactly what you'd expect from a band with members named Butterfly, Doodle, and Ladybug. They rap, but they also name-check Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus. Other songs sample R&B or dance music to great effect; one of the highlights is "Nickel Bag," which is built around a Curtis Mayfield sample. All in all, there's not a bum song on the CD.

The CD is full of quality music: worthy of 5 stars in many ways. However, I admittedly get somewhat bored when I listen to this CD start to finish - there simply isn't enough diversity in the band's mellow sound. Nevertheless, I respect this CD. For it's time, it was a fairly adventurous melding of rap, jazz, and a hippie sensibility. Along with Arrested Development and US3, it seemed like Digable Planets were on the forefront of a new and influential style of rap. Digable Planet's second CD though didn't do well, and the group faded quickly. Unfortunately, many people probably ended up thinking that "Rebirth of Slick" is their only worthwhile song. One listen to this CD will dispel that belief - so give "Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)" a chance.

Was this review helpful to you? YesNo (Report this)

Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

Reachin - A new Refutation of Time & Space, January 8, 2006
Reviewer: Geminigirl (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews
I just listened to this disc for the first time in a while and was as impressed by the fact that the music sounds as fresh as it did over 10 years ago when it was released! It certainly sounds a heck of a lot better than 90% of the rap garbage that's being released nowadays. I loved the artists & groups in the 90's who fused jazz with hip hop and this particular album by this particular group hit it out of the park - it was an instant classic when I heard it which is why it's still in my collection today. In my opinion, this is what today's hip hop should strive to be: different, a new voice and ultimately timeless because the music is "outside the box" & original.

My standout tracks are: NICKEL BAGS, JIMMI DIGGIN CATS, FEMME FATALE, WHERE I'M FROM & REBIRTH OF SLICK.… (más)

Product Details

* Audio CD (October 18, 1994)
* Original Release Date: October 18, 1994
* Number of Discs: 1
* Label: Capitol
* Catalog Number: 30654
* ASIN: B00000HFM2
* Other Editions: Audio Cassette | LP Record
* Average Customer Review: based on 45 reviews. (Write a review.)
* Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,114 in Music (See Top Sellers in Music)
Yesterday: #3,216 in Music

Listen to Samples
To hear a song sample, click on "Listen" by that sample. Visit our audio help page for more information.

1. Slowes' Comb: The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug Listen Listen
2. Slowes' Comb: Black Ego Listen Listen
3. Slowes' Comb: Dog It Listen Listen
4. Slowes' Comb: Jettin' Listen Listen
5. Slowes' Comb: Borough Check Listen Listen
6. Slowes' Comb: Highing Fly Listen
7. Agent 7 Creamy Spy Theme: Dial 7 (Axioms Of Creamy Spies) Listen
8. Ny 21 Theme: The Art Of Easing Listen
9. Ny 21 Theme: K.B.'s Alley (Mood Dudes Groove) Listen
10. Ny 21 Theme: Graffiti Listen
11. Ny 21 Theme: Blowing Down Listen
12. Ny 21 Theme: 9th Wonder (Blackitolism) Listen
13. Ny 21 Theme: For Corners Listen
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In 1993, the Digable Planets, a trio of New York MCs with happy insect monikers (Doodlebug, Butterfly, and Ladybug) and nonthreatening auras, created manna for the pseudo-beatnik crowd. On Reachin': A New Refutation of Time and Space they melded jazz records, hip-hop beats, and rhymes--like Gang Starr and the Dream Warriors before them. Much to their dismay, the single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," which combined their be-boppy flows with a catchy Art Blakey loop, captured the clove cigarette contingent. Their sleeper follow-up, Blowout Comb was a De La Soul-esque reaction to their pop success. They forsook the bohemians (and probably scared them as well) by waxing poetic about the Black Panthers and Fidel Castro and giving shout-outs to their peeps in the Five Percent Nation of Islam. Loaded with live instrumentation, the album includes "Black Ego," an interpolation of a popular Meters composition laced with nice guitar plucks, and "K.B.'s Alley," where a schizophrenic trombone perfectly complements their wordplay. Despite strong guest spots by vet female DJ Jazzy Joyce, Guru, and Jeru the Damaja, it's the hidden messages, somber mood, and understated beats of "9th Wonder (Blackitolism)" or "Dial 7 (Axiom Of Creamy Spies)" that outshine the gloss of their debut. --Dalton Higgins
Tag this product (What's this?)

Your tags: Add your first tag
Spotlight Reviews
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Search Customer Reviews


34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
the most criminally slept on hip hop album., January 23, 2004
Reviewer: C. Roark "tri-zeta" (from under the floorboards and through the woods...) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This is one of those albums that just slides through the cracks between genres. It's also the quintessential hip hop album. Along side 'The Low End theory,' 'Things Fall Apart,' Paul's Boutique,' 'Stankonia'... It takes hip hop to new places, it makes the whole more than what it was. Few albums accomplish that- stepping up the game for all involved and raising the collective ante.

The tracks are dense as hell- sticky-thick, odd effects, abyssinian-deep funkee samples, beats the likes of which I have never heard before (really- and I know beats pretty wel, aside from the shuggie otis sample on 'For Corners' and a couple others I'm at a loss for most of the album), and sick rhymes that stick in your head eternally... It is way beyond 'Reachin,' Digable Planet's debut album, which was a very good album in its own right.

Like I have said before in reviews, there are very albums that I can just sit back and listen to- the whole thing, no skipping tracks, no messing with the order. This is just perfect, like the girl you hope to take home to mom one day. If the almighty bounced into my kitchen while I'm washing dishes to Blowout Comb, while skipping around and murmuring the lyrics, and asked me- "Well, can I make it better? More echo on the jazz drums from 'black ego'? Or higher pitch on the singing on 'the axioms of creamy spies? Anything? you want fries with that perfection???"

I'd just say, "You know what, God? This one is fine as is."

Just kidding, there is no God. But this album is damn close.… (más)