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Some Basics
“I was basically thinking the music we made was something people could dig, so Digable. I was listening to a lot of George Clinton and Sun Ra, so I was on some space shit, cosmic. I was thinking of each person as a planet, we are all in a solar system, a galaxy and trying to orbit around each other. That was my imagination for those words.”
- Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler
“Digable Planets performed with live musicians and showed audiences that there isn’t any box that hip-hip should fit in. There wasn’t ‘conscious hip-hop’ and ‘gangsta rap.’ The group proved through their music and their style that they could be hardcore b-boys and b-girls, intellectuals, and party people all at the same time.”
- Ericka Blount Danois, okayplayer (2018)
The members of Digable Planets found one another through two different meetings: Butler, who originally hailed from Seattle, met Craig “Doodlebug” Irving while interning at Philadelphia’s Sleeping Bag Records; Irving had met Mariana “Ladybug” Vieira at DC’s Howard University. They all had similar upbringings – all three had parents involved in the Black Liberation movement (Vieira’s from their/her(?) native Brazil) – and, not surprisingly, they all felt the pull of music, whether from obsessing over the radio dial (Ladybug) or raiding their parents’ record collections (Butterfly and Doodlebug). Ladybug found further inspiration from the breakthrough of some famous female rappers of the late 1980s (e.g., Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt & Pepa (and Spinderella, dammit!).
Officially formed in 1989, the first demos recorded as “Digable Planets” featured only Butler, but he and Irving vibed all right (“once we got cool”), so Butler made his pitch and worked his connections. From Irving:
“He asked me to join him in putting this new group together and after hearing the demos he put together I was hooked. Eventually Ladybug joined the group and Butter through the connects he made while being an intern at Sleeping Bag records, was able to parlay a meeting with Dennis Wheeler, an A&R at an up and coming label called Pendulum and the rest is history!”
History took a few years to start, but they put out work and garnered attention (there’s something about a “Rosie Perez co-sign on In Living Color” in the interview with Vieira, but she leaves it hanging) until Pendulum Records signed them in 1992 and Digable Planets relocated to Brooklyn. They had a good bond early. From Vieira:
“The three of us didn’t grow up together but we had an instant family bond from the very beginning. Outside of my immediate family, I had never experienced anything like that at the time. It was really special for me and I really believed in that. I really wanted to work with them to try and influence the world and make things better.”
Their debut album, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) came out in 1993 and, like many artists, they found their first audiences in Europe. It took a while for American audiences to warm up, but “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” came up over in over in the rotation on MTV (can confirm) and eventually caught fire. The single became a crossover hit (No. 15 on Billboard), the album went gold, and they picked up a Grammy for “Best Performance by a Rap Duo or Group.” They recorded a follow-up in ‘94, Blowout Comb, added a “ft.” or three (e.g., Jeru the Damaja, Sulaiman and Guru of Gangstarr”), and won the admiration of Time magazine (it was their album of the year) despite a heavier tone (per Wikipedia, it was “darker, less hook-oriented and more overtly political”). Just one more year passed before the dread “creative differences” ended the project. Digable Planets spun out of their respective orbits in 1995.
“I was basically thinking the music we made was something people could dig, so Digable. I was listening to a lot of George Clinton and Sun Ra, so I was on some space shit, cosmic. I was thinking of each person as a planet, we are all in a solar system, a galaxy and trying to orbit around each other. That was my imagination for those words.”
- Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler
“Digable Planets performed with live musicians and showed audiences that there isn’t any box that hip-hip should fit in. There wasn’t ‘conscious hip-hop’ and ‘gangsta rap.’ The group proved through their music and their style that they could be hardcore b-boys and b-girls, intellectuals, and party people all at the same time.”
- Ericka Blount Danois, okayplayer (2018)
The members of Digable Planets found one another through two different meetings: Butler, who originally hailed from Seattle, met Craig “Doodlebug” Irving while interning at Philadelphia’s Sleeping Bag Records; Irving had met Mariana “Ladybug” Vieira at DC’s Howard University. They all had similar upbringings – all three had parents involved in the Black Liberation movement (Vieira’s from their/her(?) native Brazil) – and, not surprisingly, they all felt the pull of music, whether from obsessing over the radio dial (Ladybug) or raiding their parents’ record collections (Butterfly and Doodlebug). Ladybug found further inspiration from the breakthrough of some famous female rappers of the late 1980s (e.g., Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt & Pepa (and Spinderella, dammit!).
Officially formed in 1989, the first demos recorded as “Digable Planets” featured only Butler, but he and Irving vibed all right (“once we got cool”), so Butler made his pitch and worked his connections. From Irving:
“He asked me to join him in putting this new group together and after hearing the demos he put together I was hooked. Eventually Ladybug joined the group and Butter through the connects he made while being an intern at Sleeping Bag records, was able to parlay a meeting with Dennis Wheeler, an A&R at an up and coming label called Pendulum and the rest is history!”
History took a few years to start, but they put out work and garnered attention (there’s something about a “Rosie Perez co-sign on In Living Color” in the interview with Vieira, but she leaves it hanging) until Pendulum Records signed them in 1992 and Digable Planets relocated to Brooklyn. They had a good bond early. From Vieira:
“The three of us didn’t grow up together but we had an instant family bond from the very beginning. Outside of my immediate family, I had never experienced anything like that at the time. It was really special for me and I really believed in that. I really wanted to work with them to try and influence the world and make things better.”
Their debut album, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space) came out in 1993 and, like many artists, they found their first audiences in Europe. It took a while for American audiences to warm up, but “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)” came up over in over in the rotation on MTV (can confirm) and eventually caught fire. The single became a crossover hit (No. 15 on Billboard), the album went gold, and they picked up a Grammy for “Best Performance by a Rap Duo or Group.” They recorded a follow-up in ‘94, Blowout Comb, added a “ft.” or three (e.g., Jeru the Damaja, Sulaiman and Guru of Gangstarr”), and won the admiration of Time magazine (it was their album of the year) despite a heavier tone (per Wikipedia, it was “darker, less hook-oriented and more overtly political”). Just one more year passed before the dread “creative differences” ended the project. Digable Planets spun out of their respective orbits in 1995.
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| There is life after creative differences |
They’ve all continued in music, sometimes working separately – Irving started recording as Cee-Knowledge, Ladybug as Ladybug Mecca, Butler became half of Shabazz Palaces as Palacer Lazaro – sometimes together (some fitful collaborations, plus Irving and Butler touring with the Cosmic Funk Orchestra from 2009-2011). They tried a couple reunions here and there only to see them flame-out, but they actually landed a couple starting in the mid-2010s. And, near as I can tell, they all still like one another very much, creative differences notwithstanding.
Sources
Wikipedia
okayplayer interview, w/ Butterfly (2018)
Source interview w/ Ladybug, aka, Ladybug Mecca (2018)
I Am Hip Hop interview w/ Doodlebug, aka, Cee-Knowledge (2017)
Sampler
There’s not a lot of catalog to mine, but Digable Planets put out two very, very good albums. Very good. The June 2022 playlist will likely be drunk with Digable Planets. Because I felt obligated to include “Rebirth of Slick (etc.)”, the sampler ended up on 13 songs, their big hit single plus six songs from each album. By album, and in no particular order:
Reachin’ (etc.): “It’s Good to Be Here,” “Pacifics (Sdtrk “N.Y. Is Red Hot),” “Where I’m From,” “Time & Space (A New Refutation of),” “Escapism (Gettin’ Free),” and, what I thought was another hit for them, “Nickel Bags.”
Blowout Comb: “Black Ego,” “Jettin’” (live at KEXP 2016, fwiw), “Slowes Comb / The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug," "The Art of Easing," "Blowing Down," and "Agent 7 Creamy Spy Theme.”
I staggered them on the actual sampler I’m posting with this, but the difference in sound between the two albums does come out. Enjoy.
Sources
Wikipedia
okayplayer interview, w/ Butterfly (2018)
Source interview w/ Ladybug, aka, Ladybug Mecca (2018)
I Am Hip Hop interview w/ Doodlebug, aka, Cee-Knowledge (2017)
Sampler
There’s not a lot of catalog to mine, but Digable Planets put out two very, very good albums. Very good. The June 2022 playlist will likely be drunk with Digable Planets. Because I felt obligated to include “Rebirth of Slick (etc.)”, the sampler ended up on 13 songs, their big hit single plus six songs from each album. By album, and in no particular order:
Reachin’ (etc.): “It’s Good to Be Here,” “Pacifics (Sdtrk “N.Y. Is Red Hot),” “Where I’m From,” “Time & Space (A New Refutation of),” “Escapism (Gettin’ Free),” and, what I thought was another hit for them, “Nickel Bags.”
Blowout Comb: “Black Ego,” “Jettin’” (live at KEXP 2016, fwiw), “Slowes Comb / The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug," "The Art of Easing," "Blowing Down," and "Agent 7 Creamy Spy Theme.”
I staggered them on the actual sampler I’m posting with this, but the difference in sound between the two albums does come out. Enjoy.
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