A mini-album with as many features as tracks: On »Exotic Birds of Prey«, Ismael Butler, the mastermind behind Shabazz Palaces, adds a little funk to a cold synth sound as a small interlude. Because the album clocks in at just over 23 minutes. But that’s okay. Butler, who’s been around the block a few times in the world of obscure hip-hop, i.e. vector algebra as sound and mystical superstructures, plugs in the right things to get things moving between the stars. Everything is more accessible than on its predecessors. »Take Me To Your Leader« with Lavarr the Starr has a great rhythm that you can just drift along to. The whole synthesis has a lot of potential for a hit in »Goat Me« with its weird beat. There is definitely funk in it, but in a completely futuristic, deconstructed way. That’s still quite unusual in contemporary hip-hop, and there’s nothing else out there that comes close to the sheer solar system scope of albums like »Exotic Birds of Prey«.
Carmike
Comin’ At Yo Ass
Now-Again