New Shabbazz Palaces is fucking insane too.
Someone once argued passionately in favor of SPs being the "Radiohead of Hip-Hop." At the time I said "nah, it's FlyLo or Kanye or Dilla" but Lese Majesty actually sounds like fucking Radiohead at moments! Beyond that, it even sounds like fucking Liars sometimes! It's almost a non-hip-hop specific affair, really.
I thought Black Up! was an excellent album; but I definitely liked it more in 2011 than I do now. I blame my homies LOUDER & NOISEREDUCTIONS for pulling me out of my “avant-hip-hop only!” phase and back into an unapologetic appreciation of any & all hip-hop that made my brain feel good, regardless of how mainstream it is, or how “shallow” the über-literati white male masses may feel it may be. It's hard to be a hip-hop purist, since so much of the political/collective/underground shit is so much less appealing than the baller anthems about "F**kin' Problems," whether or not "bitches" are among one's f**kin' problems, and to what extent these bitches exasperate already f**kin' problematic relationships by being gold-diggers.
Anyway, the album was good, but it was a little too overhyped for me to stomach, especially at the regional level. I've had some very public feuds with friends of mine from the Pacific Northwest, who post memes comparing SP lyrics to the chorus of "She Lives You" and offering it up as evidence that Shabazz Palaces are better than the Fucking Beatles. Seriously. The meme's are clearly a joke, like the Lil Wayne "a mili" sheet music vs. John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.... Pure hokey dumb bullshit, but those Washington folks will actually make serious arguments about SB being more influential than the god damn Beatles!!! I mean, yeah it was a good record, but even the suggestion that the two are comparable is an insult. Both to Sp's (who I'm sure don't feel that they are superior to the Beatles) and to the people who like them but DON'T think they walk on water.
Why? Seattle has produced so many great bands that have been utterly passed over by the hippest hipsters alive. Why SP's?
Anyway the new album is fucking good. They're not he Beatles though, so I apologize if any of you had your hopes up about hat one.