Shabazz Palaces: Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star/Quazarz vs. the Jealous Machines

Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler (aka Palaceer Lazaro) has always used fantasy and fiction to make salient observations about the real world we inhabit. As Butterfly from the ‘90s conscious rap group Digable Planets, he used psychedelic poetics to promote progressive values such as a woman’s right to choose. As Butler matured and evolved as a lyricist over the past two decades, his work became less literal and more literary. His imaginary world grew noticeably richer and his sonic palette, more experimental.
Shabazz Palaces’ new, two-album drop on Sub Pop Records, Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star and Quazarz vs. the Jealous Machines, exemplifies this evolution and builds on it to fascinating effect. The project is a work of Afro-futurist science fiction, born of Octavia Butler’s novels and Sun Ra’s astral jazz. The two albums tell the tale of Quazarz, an intergalactic emissary sent to earth to interact with its locals by way of music. He emerges with observations about hip-hop’s evolution from boom-bap to mumble rap, race in America and our collective dependence on technology.