digable planets

Lyrics

2006-08-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Please help me build a database of Dig's lyrics by sending them to me- or by posting them here as a comment.

NPR's - planets reunite

2006-08-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

NPR's Digable Planet's reunite audio by Christopher Johnson - Digable Planets, the Grammy-winning hip-hop trio that has reunited after a decade.

NEW VIDEO

2006-08-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

NEW VIDEO from the reunion tour! The legendary, Digable Planets reunite after 10 years to give a memorable performance at The 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. In 1994, the group won a Grammy for Best Group and they are best known for their blend of hip hop and jazz, along with their smash hit, "Cool Like That." This mini-concert/interview was produced by Raggtyme Live and Renaissance Multimedia.

Butterfly

2006-08-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Cherrywine's debut record, Bright Black, to be released on the DCide label in partnership with Babygrande Records this spring, take's listeners on a personal, funky, soulful trip. Laced with lyrics that echo in your head long after the first listen, the album melds rap with more traditional songwriting filled with guitars and keyboards reminiscent of early Outkast and Prince (circa Dirty Mind).In the case of Ishmael Butler, founder of this raw but enticing effort, Cherrywine marks the metamorphosis of his career with a new musical sound and a deeper artist perspective.
In the early '90's, Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler was at the forefront of a new wave of urban music as the founder and leader of Digable Planets. Along with fellow members Mary Ann "Ladybug" Viera (aka Mecca) and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving (aka Knowledge), they created music charged with classic jazz samples, hip hop beats and politically greased lyrics. They released two definitive albums, their platinum selling debut album Reachin' (a new refutation of time and space) in 1993 and it's follow-up Blowout Comb in 1994, before disbanding in 1996. They also won a Grammy in 1993 for best rap performance by a group for their MTV-friendly single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat')."
After the New York-based group separated Ishmael packed up and headed west to Seattle, where he had lived early in life. There he met up with guitarist Thaddeus Turner and his bass-playing brother Gerald, who turned Ishmael, a jazz-head, on to guitar based blues and funk. He also stepped into the acting world and starred in the leading role of I am Ali, a standout film at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival written by one of VIBE Magazine's most celebrated scribes, Dream Hampton.
Over the next few years Ishmael learned to play the guitar and keyboards--classic blues and funk becoming a focus-by playing along to Sly Stone and Prince records. He then formed Cherrywine, a name Ishmael chose because as he explains, "I like the things that can be inferred from it." In addition to the Turner brothers, Seattle guitarist Bubba Jones joined his live hip-hop act, and together they laid the foundations for Bright Black.
For the recording of Bright Black, Ishmael teamed up with Dave Darlington, who engineered Digable's Blowout Comb and Larri Sims to co-produce the record. Moving beyond traditional hip-hop, Ishmael lays out what he knows in life and all its temptations on songs like "Dazzlement." If anything, he takes issue with the underground rappers and performers who hate on the stars of MTV. "It's not a hayride for these people-they work hard. I just stopped looking at stuff like that and being judgmental. And I'm not going to react to someone else's creativity to form my own. That's corny to me."
For Ishmael, his creativity is fueled by his own personal experiences. Truth is a priority, both as a writer and as a performer. He felt a thinness in his previous work and digs deeper lyrically and musically to create something more hard-won and hopefully, more appreciated. "Writing this way is hard, because it's almost like knowledge. The more you expose yourself, the more you realize how much you're kind of stepping on or hiding."
He now uses fewer words to convey more exacting emotion and powerful feeling. On "I Had to Lie," Butler explains to a girlfriend his rationale for the fables he weaves. The music of "See for Miles" sounds like the driving swirl of obsession and addiction, whatever the drug. Butler's mastery of language and his innate ability to be one step ahead of his contemporaries (acknowledged from his days with Digable) has not diminished as he continues to stake new directions with his sound.
In addition to a deeper writing style, Butler is no longer just a straight rapper finding a hook and a sample. He has seen a higher road in the struggles musicians go through trying to make the sounds in their head appear on the track. "I just felt like being a musician meant playing an instrument, you know? I don't know if that's necessarily true, but that's how I felt," says Butler. "And I started to feel inadequate. I had been lazy… just doing the minimum amount of work to live."
Butler's musical transition has been internal and deeply felt, but reaching his fans is still the priority. "There's something in me that wants to relate to everybody, to find a common ground, something we all share. When everybody is out at the club, and carousing and trying to get up and get a little away from whatever they're trying to get away from--to be able to make music to facilitate that is romance."
(taken directly from the cherrywine website)

Ladybug Mecca

2006-08-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Grammy Award winning talent, Ladybug Mecca (Rebirth Of Slick "Cool Like Dat" 1993) formerly of the rap group Digable Planets is currently in the studio recording her new solo debut set to be released in the fall of 2003. New York (PRWEB) - Ladybug Mecca, possibly rap's most notorious voice of her time with the group Digable Planets in the early 90's, is now back for her first solo project after a long layoff and start of a new family. Rebirth of Mec, which showcases among other things, Ladybug's soulful versatility, is due out in the Fall.
On Rebirth of Mec she bares soul and explores her journey from innocence into sense. She pairs her thoughtful words with an eclectic blend of music: breezy Afro Brazilian rhythms cross-pollinate with hip-hop beats, fiery rock riffs and post-bop blue notes meet and prosper. Co-produced and overseen by Mecca and Nu Paradigm CEO Nkosi Gray, the set features Hitman, from Dr. Dre's Aftermath camp, and producers include Shane Conry, Isreal, Sa-Ra and Martin Luther, from San Francisco-based Good Vibes.
The track "Hit & Mec" details what makes the album's only match up work over trunk rattlin' beats and a dazzling soundscape. Hitman, who has rhythmed with Dr. Dre and Eminen in the past, puts it this way: "I'm straight gutta, she's straight profound." Another song, "Step Up Wise," boom-bangs to message about education and empowerment." If you want the truth," Mecca explains, "you have to step up wise."
Prominent in Mecca's history is her role in Digable Planets, a communal clan of poet-rappers that made "hip-hop bebop" popular in the 90's. Alongside her two male partners she burst onto the scene like a quiet storm, blowing away expectations and defining a new stance for ladies who followed on the mike. "Mecca The Ladybug makes great strides in proving women in rap don't need to scream and swagger inorder to be tough and assertive," wrote Larry Flick in Billboard magazine. "Mecca never raises her voice but always is a commanding figure."
The crew's 1993 unveiling, Reaching' (a new refutation of time and space), sold platinum and included samples from Curtis Mayfield, Sonny Rollins and other pacesetters. The single "Rebirth Of Slick ("Cool Like Dat) was a Top 10 smash that won a Grammy award for Best Rap Performance by a duo or group. The trio also scored one Billboard award, among other accolades, and toured the world as the opening act for Sade. Its follow-up, Blowout Comb, followed the group's creative light to another singular level of inspiration.
"I want listeners to come into my world," says Mecca of her solo debut, Rebirth of Mec, on the independent, self-determining Nu-Paradigm Entertainment. "I'd like them to feel they've entered into a new dimension, somewhere they've been before but can't remember yet." All in all, Rebirth celebrates life. As Mecca told writer Cheo Hodari Coker (Vibe Magazine): "Creating music is like giving birth, and your baby is a gift to the world."

For press information please contact Shaun Saunders at Artist Showcase, (510) 654-7242 or email blinkmediapr@aol.com. Please look for Ladybug Mecca's new album Rebirth of Mec, in stores in the fall of 2003. Ladybug Mecca is New York based. Check out the official website for miss mecca which is not really up yet, but hopefully will be soon. You can hear a tiny song clip here!

Silkworm

2003-10-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Silkworm - now - King Britt

Growing up in southwest Philadelphia, house DJ/producer King Britt was raised in a household filled with music, from James Brown to Duke Ellington. He began buying records at the age of seven, and gradually amassed a collection of over 10,000 singles. Britt saw the beginnings of the local rap scene evolve with Schooly D., Three Times Dope, Steady B., DJ Cash Money, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. His tastes also expanded to include Depeche Mode, Roxy Music, Kraftwerk, Front 242, and the Smiths. While attending Temple University, he began producing his own tracks and also met Ishmael Butler (aka Butterfly), who introduced Britt to his jazz-rap group Digable Planets. Acquiring the nickname Silkworm, he toured with the group for more than two years. Through a mutual friend, he also met Josh Wink, and the duo soon began tooling around in their respective bedroom/MIDI recording studios. The result was a worldwide dance hit, 1993's "Tribal Confusion" by E-Culture. Britt and Wink formed their own label, Ovum Recordings, and worked on production as well as remixing, for artists including Tori Amos, Donna Lewis, Solsonics, and Mary Wilson.

King Britt first hatched the idea for a solo album while touring with Digable Planets. A soundtrack fan without the money to make a feature film, he decided to record the music for a fake movie, enlisting hometown talent — dubbed the Sylk 130 collective — including legendary bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma, drummer Darryl Burgee, keyboardist James Poiser, vocalist Alison Crockette, poet Ursula Rucker, rapper Tony "Capital A" Green, and guitarist Monnette Sudler. When the Funk Hits the Fan was released on Ovum/Sony in 1998 and was followed by The Remixes one year later. The new millennium, however, featured another musical jaunt for King Britt's Sylk 130. Re-Members Only, issued in March 2001, showcased classic funk/soul grooves as well as collaborations with ABC's Martin Frye, De La Soul, and Alison Moyet of Yaz. Britt's first solo production album, Adventures in Lo-fi, followed in 2003 on BBE, and he put together a mix album for Chicago's Park Hyatt hotel in 2004. He remained busy as ever beyond these releases, developing artists on his label and handling dozens of remix jobs.

Digable Planets

2003-08-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

Digable Planets hit the scene in the early 90's withmusic that transcended mainstream hip/hop, pop, rap and R&B without ever seeming anything other than natural. The trio Doodle bug(Craig Irving, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), Butterfly (b. Ishmael Butler, Brooklyn, New York, USA) and Ladybug (b. Mary Ann Vierra, Silver Springs, Maryland, USA) used political views, wisdom and knowledge to reach out and speak to those that found thier music a viable means of communicating the idea of something deeper. They gave hope that there was more to music, more to life, more to understanding than initally represented through what the corporate music industry tried to impose on the world. I personally know that even now, there is not much that can sooth a hard day better than throwing in blowout comb or reachin and just letting the music make its way into a more delightful inspired mind set. This site is a thank you to digable planets, the fans, the mucisians and hopefully will provide a place for us to come together to share our experiences, and to keep the digable experience alive. There is a lot of cool stuff happenin right now, and if you know of anything that you would like to see here please dont hesitate to let me know. you can email me here.

Doodlebug

2003-03-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

Cee Knowledge & The Cosmic Funk Orchestra is the first official solo project to come out of the grammy award winning Digable Planets camp. Cee Knowledge aka Doodlebug (CK) once again brings his unique vocal stylings to the table this time coupled with the gritty yet abstract rhymes and "street jazzoetry" of his supporting cast (the original seven and a crescent crew). The Cosmic Funk Orchestra combines the veteran artistry of Cee Knowledge (a.k.a. Doodlebug of Digable Planets), Jah Sun the megamorph, J-Truth the Buddah blessed black child, Jae Meeks, Kai-Chi, and Lauretta Gooden with the incredible musicianship of Frank May (electric and acoustic bass), Carl "Carlito" Turner (alto, tenor sax and flute), Mike Alicknavich (guitar), Dan "Z-Boy" Ziegler (drums), and Giscard "jee eye zee" Xavier (keyboards). CKÕs discography includes the platinum plus selling Reachin (A New Refutation of Time and Space), the critically acclaimed follow up Blowout Comb, Red Hot and Cool (Stolen Moments), Marvin Gaye Tribute featuring Madonna, BoyzIIMen and others, the Coneheads soundtrack, the Panthers soundtrack and more. CK has also toured the world with the likes of James Brown, Sade, Guru, Tribe Called Quest, DeLa Soul, Ziggy Marley, D-Influence, Amber Sunshower, Marcus Miller and Roy Ayers to name a few. This new project entitled "Return of the Cosmic Funk" features guest appearances by Roy Ayers, members of the legendary jazz band Sun-Ra-Arkestra, Ladybug and a host of others. Also included will be a full color comic book co-written by CK and Thomas View with artwork by Kim Ladee called "The Epic of the Heaven and Earth Assocation."

Cee Knowledge is best known as Doodlebug of The Digable Planets. His silky smooth style won a 1993 Grammy Award for "Rap Duo or Group" and a nomination for "Best New Artist." In late January, 2000, The Digable Planets kicked off the Philadelphia Music Conference with a reunion show at The Trocadero. It was here that the vybe first played with CK. The energy of the evening was unprecedented and the two groups became one as Cee Knowledge and The Cosmic Funk Orchestra.(thanks to ariel publicity)