Digable Planets: Butterfly, Doodle, Ladybug. Additional personnel: Scientific Homiez (programming). Producers: Butterfly, Shane "The Doctor" Faber, Mike Mangini. Recorded at the Sound Doctor Studio, North Bergen, New Jersey. Digable Planets were nominated for a 1994 Grammy Award as "Best New Artist." "Rebirth Of Slick" won the 1994 Grammy Award for "Rap Duo Or Group." In 1993, Digable Planets redefined the potential of hip-hop with this truly refreshing and unique groove opus. Claiming themselves heirs to the "brothers from outer space" mantel adopted by Sun Ra and such acts as Parliament/Funkadelic before them, the Planets serve up a psychedelicised jazz/hip-hop concoction over which Doodlebug, Ladybug, and Butterfly roll their sophisticated, mellifluous rhymes. While jazz sampling had already reared its head in hip-hop, the Planets were the first to make it an aesthetic. Disembodied snippets of Sonny Rollins (on "Time and Space"), Art Blakey (on "Cool Like Dat," the record's hit single), and others float in and out, merging seamlessly with the smooth beats and bass, while the copious use of echo further heightens the disc's individual sound. Themes tend toward transcendence and mind expansion, as the subtitle of the album ("A New Refutation Of Time And Space") and the numerous references to chemical recreation ("Nickel Bags" is one of the highlights here) would indicate. With the overwhelming popularity of gangsta and hardcore street rap, REACHIN' only made a minor splash. But in no way does that diminish the creativity and remarkable appeal of this record.

• Genre: Pop
• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 06/01/2018