MOG

Topic: The Digable Planets

This Bohemeian and Muslim influenced hip-hop group ate up some serious car stereo time in my adolescence. I consider them to be the pinnacle of the jazzy hip-hop movement in the early to mid nineties, excellent sampling and an overall creatively stoned vibe and just enough east-coast boom-bap. Intelligent lyrics that were more accessible to me than the merging violence in the 2Pac/Notorious BIG stuff that was so popular.

They had a huge "cross-over" hit with the single "Cool Like Dat" reaching no. 15; that of course pushed their debut, "Reachin' (A New Refutation Of Time And Space)" to perhaps unrepeatable success. But I think they were always plagued by the "hippie crossover kiss of death," as if too many white people bought the record of something. I don't know, just an idea.

The next album was a little more rugged but to my ears it put them in a weird middle ground with the people that bought the first record. Although I have to say that the second album is actually more impressive from the production standpoint, and in many ways just a less kitsch piece of work. But citing creative differences, they broke up around 1995.

The Dj went on to solid success under his moniker King Britt, producing house and hip-hop. All the MC's have popped up here and there. Ladybug Miss Mecca has a few vids up on youtube, Doddlebug is still doing his odd enlightened Islam thing, and Butterfly has recorded in an alt-soul group called Cherrywine and lent guest verses as Ishmael to a few hip-hop singles.

I realize this is a pretty thin bio, but I just want to highlight the fact that the second album actually has real staying power and sounds pretty current even 13 years after release. So here are a few tracks off the Blowout Comb album. Too bad they never made a follow up, these beats are fantastic and the verses are plenty good enough.

DP's, I missed ya.