Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) is the debut album by alternative hip hop group Digable Planets released on February 9, 1993, by Pendulum/Elektra Records. The album has been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.
The album was produced by Digable Planets' Ishmael Butler ("Butterfly") and features raps from Butler, Irving and Viera. The production leans heavily on jazz samples, Butler explaining that "it was all about resources, really...I just went and got the records that I had around me. And a lot of those were my dad's shit, which was lots of jazz. The whole concept of 'We're a jazz group' didn't go down like that. Except that DJ Premier was a big influence, and he sampled a lot of jazz."
Lyrically, the tone of the album is less overtly political than its successor Blowout Comb, but still touches on issues such as abortion rights ("La Femme Fetal") and the drug abuses of jazz musicians ("Last of the Spiddyocks"). The album title derives from A New Refutation of Time, an essay by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges, as well as the tendency of earlier jazz musicians in naming their albums (Moanin', Cookin', etc). Butler and Irving give a track-by-track account of the album and its production in Brian Coleman's book Check the Technique.
Reachin' is a nice jazzy rap album by hip hop trio Digable Planets. The production sounds somewhat outdated with a lot of reverb on the raps. The fact these are two men and a woman sharing the lead vocals makes the sound quite varied. Good laid back listening music for the weekend.
This is definitely the style of rap I get into. That early 90s sound is so much fun and these guys are great! They aren’t shying away from making important statements… Femme Fatale is an impressive examination of abortion. Didn’t see that coming but really good stuff.
Funky rhythmic hip-hop flow with great music with a strong jazz and funk background...this adds up to an almost perfect hiphop album with standout tracks like "Cool Like Dat" and "Pacifics"
Just feels a touch long so I might have cut ~3 songs just to keep the interest (having said that I wouldn't be able to pick the 3) but this is a definite keeper that I'll go back to. Great pick!
8/10 4 stars
IMO: should be in the book? Yes
Warm and swinging and a delight to hear all these years on. (one remembers well the hype upon release.) the name-dropping of philosophers and Borges are cool (if not automatically equating to a Borgesian artifact) and the jazz samples are first rate (Sonny Rollins, Blakey, Lonnie Liston Smith). Maybe sounds a touch dated and maybe just notch below De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. Still great, so thx recommender and could easily replace a dozen lesser rap records on list proper.
Familiar name but not a group I've heard much if any of. I like this kind of laid back, thoughtful hip hop. Very good. Listening to 90s artists musing about "if" they overturned Roe V. Wade not a very cool feeling though.
Been a while since I hit upon a solid hip-hop LP on the list, so this was a welcome find. Loved the interplay between male and female bars, made this feel more balanced and interesting compared to the usual sausage party this genre can feel like sometimes. The beats could have definitely brought more to the table and were probably the weaker part of the LP, not sure I'll come back to this one but it was a solid listen in the moment.
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