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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
As the unconventional, exotic and otherworldy sounds bubble and beguile throughout, it’s clear that Shabazz Palaces have set their controls for an entirely other dimension.
100
By cutting out the usual comeback bluster and throwback rehash, Butler may have discovered hip-hop’s fountain of youth.
12y
100
Black Up is not the best hip hop album of the year so far, it’s the best album of the year so far.
12y
96
Black Up shows a cadre of musicians, led by Butler, whose aim is making a brand of hip hop that’s willfully difficult, expecting more from its listeners than just its paper.
95
If there’s been a better album, hip-hop or not, out this year, I haven’t heard it.
91
Shabazz Palaces have pushed the music forward, so that it once again can be raw, real, and unconventional.
12y
91
Heads down, Shabazz Palaces are quietly producing some of the most interesting hip-hop of the year.
10y
90
As the mainstream becomes more and more predictable, Shabazz Palaces’ inscrutability is a welcome change. Because the beats are so abstract, roots take precedent, and a strong presence on the microphone becomes the most important aspect.
12y
90
It’s fresh and idiosyncratic, compellingly cryptic, but it’s difficult to pinpoint the effect it has on the listener.
12y
90
Black Up is at first mind-bending and perhaps confusing in its production and aesthetic, making it easy to lump in with fringe rap artists cLOUDDEAD. But to do so ignores the visceral qualities of the album, both in Butler’s lyrics and in the production.
10y
88
Black Up lets some sunlight in, breathes fresh air, and finds Butler returning to an occasionally lighter flow, the most unburdened he's sounded since the world first heard him.
12y
88
The production on Black Up is meticulous but furtive, always pushing forward, often unwilling simply to loop. And Butler’s rapping sounds perfectly at home in this sometimes chaotic environment, kicking it amidst the kinetic verve of his beats.
12y
85
What's likely to stick out first and foremost on the 10 tracks that comprise Black Up are the beats.
80
On Black Up, Shabazz Palaces take hip hop deep into the left field with odd beats and surreal effects. It's definitely an indulgent LP that requires a little bit of effort from the listener, but repeating these songs until they completely unfold is worth the wait.
80
Black Up reveals Shabazz Palaces as an artist much more in line with the future, voicing his dissatisfaction by carving his own path.
80
This album will not destroy all before it. But it will knock trinkets off your shelves with its sub-bass wobble and titillate those parts that conventional hip-hop doesn't reach.
80
Yes, there are some jazz and soul influences here and a few earnest lyrics, but this is way more dark, futuristic and cutting-edge than you’d guess.
80
In the category of great rap reinventions, file it next to Daniel Dumile's post-KMD rebirth as MF Doom and Ultramagnetic's MC Kool Keith re-training as Dr. Octagon.
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1y
80
There's an earworm-like lure in every track.
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1y
80
A thrilling, space-age vision of modern hip-hop.
80
It’s a wholesome prospect that is free from lines steeped in braggadocio and eschews the need to acclimatise itself with bling culture.
80
While some of Black Up isn't a million miles from his former group's darker corners, it's not particularly like much else. It's all present tense, in a way too little is, and brash, bold, and weird about it.
80
Gracing the scene with a fresh dose of inventive Hip Hop.
12y
80
This is an album with a brilliant sound, one that is as arresting to listen to as it is to puzzle over.
12y
70
Reborn as Palaceer Lazaro in Shabazz Palaces, the rapper still waxes poetic with the old boho bounce as he lounges in the club or decries the evils of American culture.
70
Black Up points toward hip-hop as a source of headphone albums as the Seattle collaborative offers intriguingly fractured surfaces under their vocals, alternating brain-tweaking minimalism with jarringly complex rhythms and vinyl-ripped ephemera.
11y
70
He still enigmatically declares solidarity with the urban proletariat and critiques pop-culture clichés, but Black Up impresses most with its beguiling sounds.
12y
67
With beats this murky and unsettling, it’s a shame that Palaceer Lazaro uses his new project to spit flimsy verses about back-in-the-day clichés.
60
Themes of lust, power politics and rebellion are smuggled in via unusual locutions, de-synchronous beats and treated sample-loops – interesting stuff, though occasionally one yearns for a decent tune.
60
Unsurprisingly, their music proves equally mysterious, the lava-like bass and shuddering beats suggesting a familiarity with dubstep's experimental margins.
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1y
Such weird and creative beats, they work so well with the great rapping performances, the songs are very catchy too, very cool vibe, if you like clouddead s/t like i do check this out 👍
Post-lobotomy beats. When i saw the tags for this album i was super exited to give it a spin, and after a couple of listens i can confidently say that this is amazing. what makes this a truly unique record is the beats. now i'm not gonna discredit shabazz and his rapping, cuz it's great, but the beats themselves take it to a whole new level. how would i even describe these beats... their constantly looping and glitching in and out. they definitely don't stay in one place at a time, they go ... read more
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Track List
Total Length: 36 minutes
Year End Lists
| #1 | / | Cokemachineglow |
| #1 | / | Gorilla vs. Bear |
| #1 | / | Prefix |
| #2 | / | Treble |
| #3 | / | Consequence of Sound |
| #4 | / | Slant |
| #4 | / | The Needle Drop |
| #5 | / | One Thirty BPM |
| #5 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
| #7 | / | Obscure Sound |
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Comments (2)
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2y
look at my 100's and u understand how great this stuff...shabazz palaces are psychedelical fire