Digable Planets Reunite for Seattle Concert

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Oct 28, 2015

Nineties-era boom-bap makers Digable Planets haven't issued an album since 1994's Blowout Comb, but the hip-hop trio are poised to make a return this December for performance in Seattle.

As Consequence of Sound points out, the trio of Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira, Craig "Doodlebug" Irving and Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler will headline a December 30 concert at Seattle's Neptune Theatre. The show is part of a two-night event being staged by Seattle collective Black Constellation, with Butler's current project, Shabazz Palaces, performing a New Year's show at the Neptune the following night.

The Brooklyn-bred Digable Planets came together in 1992 and produced two jazzy, alternative hip-hop albums. Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) from 1993 yielded the breakthrough hit "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," which won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Blowout Comb followed in 1994, but the project called it quits in 1995 due to creative differences.

That said, Digable Planets have reunited a couple of times over the years. They got back together briefly in 2005, around the release of their greatest-hits set Beyond the Spectrum: the Creamy Spy Chronicles. In 2011, they also played Toronto's NXNE event but a reunion show set to take place in 2012 was cancelled just days before the performance. It had been rumoured at the time that a third full-length was in the works, but talk of the release has died down since then.

Tickets for Digable Planets reunion are $23 US a pop, with a two-day pass to the Black Constellation event going for $40. You can get more info on the shows over here.

Shabazz Palaces' last full-length release was 2014's Lese Majesty, though the outfit did recently deliver a live LP through Third Man and a track as part of the Adult Swim Singles program.

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