Shabazz Palaces — the duo of Digable Planets MC Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler and Tendai “Baba” Maraire — have announced their next album, The Don Of Diamond Dreams.
Ahead of its release, the Sub Pop Records artists have released the inaugural single “Faster Learner” featuring Purple Tape Nate, another futuristic trip into the duo’s eclectic mix of musical tastes.
Boasting 10 tracks, The Don Of Diamond Dreams includes additional album highlights “Chocolate Souffle,” “Bad Bitch Walking featuring Stas THEE Boss and “Thanking The Girls.” Singer/keyboardist Darrius Willrich, percussionist Carlos Niño, Knife Knights collaborator OCnotes, saxophonist Carlos Overall and bassist Evan Flory-Barnes also contribute to the project.
Shabazz Palaces’ forthcoming efforts serves as their fifth studio album. In 2017, the duo dropped two companion projects: Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines.
They then took the material on the road for an expansive tour. In a July 2017 interview with RealStreetRadio, Butler explained how Shabazz Palaces was a welcome breath of fresh air.
“I just thought it was over for me,” Butler told DX at the time. “I had my day. It was just over. I was still making music but I wasn’t trying to get a record deal or nothing like that. I just thought that was over for me.”
After hanging out with Baba, Butler slowly started to flex his musical prowess once again.
“Me and him were friends,” Butler explained. “He did music and I did music, but I didn’t tell him I did music at the time. He would always say, ‘Why you ain’t doing music? You gotta keep doin’ music.’ We just hung out, but he had never been to my house, so he had never saw my studio.
“Then when we got to be better friends and he kept telling me, so one day I was kind of annoyed, and I was like, ‘Bro I make beats all the time. You don’t have to ask me no more [laughs].’
The Don Of Diamond Drums is expected to arrive on April 17. Pre-orders are available here.