Rather, Shabazz Palaces were making compelling, left-field hip-hop that had much in common with UK dubstep or the digital soundscapes of Radiohead favourites Flying Lotus. Theirs, clearly, were not the bratty effusions of fellow west coast talking points Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, whose notoriety was building around the same time. Also among their works: the soundtrack for a film about glue sniffing in Kenya. SP had been amassing an intermittent, staticky online buzz, thanks to their cutting-edge sounds, collated into two previous mini-albums. You could easily argue Jensen was still working overtime for the label.īut he nailed the feeling that Shabazz Palaces were something extraordinary. So it's worth noting that Jensen is the former general manager of Sub Pop, crucible of grunge, and that the debut album by Shabazz Palaces, Black Up, is the first ever hip-hop release on Sub Pop. The band in question? A shadowy new hip-hop outfit called Shabazz Palaces.Įven within the realms of pop hyperbole, Jensen's was quite a tweet. The Seattle gig Jensen had witnessed the previous Friday, at a venue called Neumos, was like seeing Nirvana on the cusp of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. 'Somebody has to say it: Neumos Friday felt like OK Hotel (April 17, '91) when an Aberdeen trio first dropped a song about teen deodorant.' I n January 2010 a guy called Rich Jensen sent out a cryptic tweet.
