Sub Pop will release Shabazz Palaces’ Robed In Rareness, a new seven-song effort, worldwide on October 27th, 2023. It is the first full collection of new material since The Don of Diamond Dreams, their critically acclaimed LP released in 2020.
 
Shabazz Palaces is masterminded by vocalist and producer Ishmael Butler, whose unstinting drive to reimagine hip-hop - even as he enters his fifth decade on Earth - remains undimmed. With Robed In Rareness, there’s a respectful eye on the past, an embrace of an ever-evolving present, and its feet are firmly planted in the future. It features collaborations with the likes of Seattle’s Royce The Choice and Porter Ray, Colorado Springs’ O Finess, Bronx’s Geechi Suede (of Camp Lo), and Butler’s son, the incomparable Lil Tracy.
 
Get lost in the animated visualizer for the Robed In Rareness lead single “Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice),” directed by Jacob Kasar.
 
Robed In Rareness was produced by Shabazz Palaces, mixed by Erik Blood, and engineered by Ishmael Butler and Blood at Studio4 West in  Venice, California, with mastering by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering.
 
Shabazz Palaces’ first round of touring in support of Robed In Rareness begins with a short run of east coast dates on Wednesday, September 27th, in Kingston, NY at Tubby’s, and runs through Sunday, October 1st, at DC9.  The group will also appear at My Morning Jacket’s One Big Holiday event in Quintana Roo, MX, on April 4th, 2023—additional live dates to be announced soon.

 

2023
Wed. Sep. 27 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s
Thu. Sep. 28 - Toronto, ON - Great Hall
Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - Entrepot 77 (Late)
Fri. Sep. 29 - Montreal, QC - POP Montreal Festival (Early)
Sun. Oct. 01 - Washington, DC - DC9
 
2024
Thu. Apr. 04 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
Fri. Aug. 05 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
Sat. Aug. 06 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya
Sun. Aug. 07 - Quintana Roo, MX - Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya

 

The Query: Shabazz Palaces discusses
Robed In Rareness with Larry Mizell, Jr.:

 
“Every time I bless a script it’s a precedent
Of the jiggy OGs I’m the President.”
 
Query: Who, or what, is Robed in Rareness?
The new Shabazz Palaces EP, first in a series, something like a SpaceX-Age Hustlers Convention for the time.
 
Background, please. Context. Approximate narrative style—keywords: myth, rare, jiggy.
 
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Go ahead.
 
It’s been a throuple lifetimes, like 14 scoops, since Earth first perceived the light beams of Shabazz Palaces. A solar fortnight since we witnessed one of the culture’s coldest reinventions to date. The forms may flicker depending on your dimensional positioning: Palaceer Lazaro, Butterfly, “the laser lord light rider Ish Boogie at your service.”
 
Ishmael Butler.
Affirmative.
 
For the record, Mr. Butler, better than anybody of his generation standing, exemplifies an authentically integrated aesthetic link between the golden era and the now. Actual, lived in, but fresh and unerringly curious. The things rappers clamor for today are things he found at the start of his career, some three decades past, leaving him since free to freak his shit off with zero fear or desire of fitting in…after all, it behooves the hotly pursued to stay cool and lose followers.
 
And now?
Now in 2023, on their eighth go, Shabazz is icier than ever, pushing the limits of style and wit for the hottest days on record. Hydroplaning over molten asphalt on a cloud of arctic vapor, distilling a sparkling vintage too complex for amateur palates, it’s the Palaces. Built by hands divinely guided by practice-honed instinct—for the wonder and inspiration of generations coming behind.
 
Where’s he at?
He’s in his smooth phase; peep the vet maneuvering, as if to answer his younger self’s asking “slow down for what?” Precision and detail, a myth-map meant to elevate those for whom it’s meant. This is auteur rap for an artless era, from a director that’s epitomized slickness over four decades, forever original and unadulterated. That’s what type of time he’s on.
 
Robed in Rareness pushes the Black Constellation gang line while deepening the ranks and harkening back to the spare, icy menace of those first Shabazz EPs back in 2009. (Note: RIP SILK DOUGIE.)
 
Clarify: Black Constellation.
A collective of active makers and reality shapers pulled into orbit by the gravity of Shabazz’s formation. Check KEXP’s award-winning podcast Fresh off the Spaceship for more family values.
 
“All I wanna do is see the girls get a chance. All I wanna do is see the bros getting bands”
 
Community stays a key motif of Ish’s creative endeavors. Over the mini album’s 25 minutes, he holds court alongside a cohort of chosen comrades, whether it’s Town favorites like Royce the Choice or his Stellie Porter Ray, his twin Lavarr the Starr, ice-cold Rockies rep O Finess, or longtime Geechi Suede. He even swings lanes with the one he calls his idol: his only son, the rising superstar Lil Tracy.
 
“Any n**** fuck w me, he always earn
You don’t know by now I’m the Don?
You’ll never learn
Did you make money for your folks?
Or did you burn em’?
Gotta MFA in this game, n****
Stay learning.”
 
Peep the pedigree of a forever-student OG, a 23rd Century Lightnin’ Rod hailing from 23rd Ave E, spitting gold-breaded game with pimpish disdain. Robed in Rareness, the newest brick in the Palace wall.
 
Let’s get it on.

Shabazz Palaces
Robed In Rareness
 
Tracklisting:
1. Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice)  
2. Woke Up In A Dream (feat. Lil Tracy) 
3. P Kicking G (feat. Porter Ray)     
4. Cinnamon Bun (feat. Lavarr the Starr)
5. Scarface Mace (feat. O Finess)  
6. Gel Bait (feat. Geechi Suede)     
7. Hustle Crossers