”Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like That)”

Pendulum
Production: Butterfly

Taking native tongue grooviness and jazzy hip-hop styles to the next level, meet Digable Planets, three “ghetto dwelling insects” with sound smuggled to you from sector six in the colorful ghettos of outer space. Digable is two guys and one female—Butterfly, Doodle-B and Mecca the Lady Bug—and they all rhyme (the first male-female combo since the days of the Funky Four + 1 and The Masterdon Committee).

     The opening of this debut single features thick scales on an upright bass. Then the beat drops with some jazzy high-hats and the laid-back rhyme flavor enters your world. Over a warm horn loop and a bouncy track that bottoms in-and-out, the MCs drop references that range from b-boy, “the lyrics is like loot, come in stacks and rolls” to the retro-hip, “60’s funky worms with waves and perms.” Some may say they sound like Quest, but Digable are just a crew of hip-hop stylistics who can rock everybody, from dreads to jheri curls. Check for the early ’93 LP.