Songoftheday 9/20/18 - We like the breeze flow straight out of our lids, them they got moved by these hard-rock Brooklyn kids...
from the album Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13
Today's song of the day comes from the hip-hop trio Digable Planets, who got together in Brooklyn in the late 1980s. Incorporating jazz music samples and laid-back flows in their rap style, "Butterfly" Butler, "Doodlebug" Irving, and "Ladybug Mecca" Viera set themselves apart from most of the other acts of their genre. Capitalizing on an atmosphere where experimentation was welcome, with acts like PM Dawn, Guru and Gang Starr, and De La Soul selling records, the trio entered with an even more distilled version of "jazz-rap". With their lead single, "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)", they recreated a spoken-work night with over samples of Art Blakely's "Stretching" and Fred Wesley's "Blow Your Head"...
"Rebirth Of Slick" became the Digable Planets' first and only top-40 pop hit in March of 1993. The song also climbed to #6 on Billboard's R&B chart, while spending three weeks at #1 on their Rap Singles list. Internationally, the single scaled to #8 in New Zealand, and was a minor hit in the UK at #67. At the Grammy Awards in 1994, the trio won for Best Duo/Group Rap Performance, and were nominated for Best New Artist, losing out to Toni Braxton.
The second release from Reachin', "Where I'm From", failed to match the success of their debut, peaking at #60 on the R&B chart while only "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #106 (it did climb to #7 on the Rap Singles list). That was followed by "Nickel Bags", which slipped on the R&B chart at #93. They also contributed a track to the soundtrack to the movie Coneheads, "Little Renee".
A year later, the trio returned with their sophomore effort, Blowout Comb, which continued their experimental sampling but instead of jazz grooves dominating, it was more scratching-style samples while they delved into harder topical issues. The lead single "9th Wonder (Blackitolism)" only managed to get to #80 on the pop chart, and #37 on the R&B chart, but it was their third top ten Rap Singles hit at #8 and the album reached the Top-40 on the sales chart at #32. Then came "Dial 7 (Axiom of Creamy Spies)", which was their final R&B charting hit at #88. It wasn't long before the three rapper went their separate ways, though they attempted a reunion in 2010 that fell flat. They finally got back for a tour in 2016, which resulted in a live album.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Doodlebug, Butterfly, and Ladybug Mecca performing the track live on In Living Color in 1993...
...again with a live band for a TV appearance that same year on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ...
And finally, the trio on their reunion show in Brooklyn in 2016...
Up tomorrow: Bad Boy wants to vamoose.
Comments