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This Is Our Jam: Shabazz Palaces, “Swerve… The Reeping Of All That Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)”


Shabazz Palaces
Swerve... The Reeping of All that is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)” is a three-part medley that is much greater (and stranger) than the sum of its movements. During the first of these, Ishmael Butler's buttery rhymes skate over a slinky beat that sounds like something MF Doom might have slayed a few years years back. The track then introduces guest stars THEESatisfaction, who split Afrofuturist Baduizm with heady free-associative rap. As the song fades, Afrocentric poetics loop in over bongos: “Black is you, black is me / Black is us, black is free.” The core, though, is THEESatisfaction's middle section that swirls with a jazz-inflected entropy. The lyrics say it all: "Boogie woogie let your body feel free / My mind loses connectivity." Best to relax and follow the directions. (Pitchfork)

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Shabazz Palaces—Black Up
"Swerve... The Reeping of All that Is Worthwhile (Noir Not Withstanding)"


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