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Artist Digable Planets Type Album Released October 10, 1994 Rating 3.84 from 349 ratings Ranked #88 for 1994 , #3196 overall Genres Jazz Rap, East Coast Hip Hop < Previous Next > Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)

1994 Blowout Comb [33 rpm], [Promo] Vinyl LP CHR 6087 1994 Blowout Comb CD EMI Music Canada E2 7243 8 30654 2 4 1994 Blowout Comb CD Pendulum 7243-8-30654-2-4

makaveli1984 Nov 02 2009 [Rating25875386]	This album may be the real blueprint of jazz and rap fusion!!! Great!!!
bulletluckcharm Aug 19 2009   Digital [Rating24476566]	7 November 2009 Downtown Brooklin. Rollin' tight. Boarder down. One two grooving roove under the roof. North by south fantastic show, stop the MC's. Check the suits. Everything is straight.
Nodima Aug 10 2009 Best in show; pinnacle. CD [Rating24297734]	Blowout Comb (Produced by Digable Planets) [Pendulum Records 1994] 1|The May 4th Movement Starring Doodlebug|4:56 4.25 - 5 2|Black Ego|7:02 4.5 - 5 3|Dog It|4:20 4 - 4.75 4|Jettin'|4:39 4.25 - 5 5|Borough Check (feat. Guru)|6:55 4.5 - 5 6|Highing Fly / Agent 7 Creamy Spy Theme|1:23 4.25 - 5 7|Dial 7 (Axioms of Creamy Spies) / NY 21 Theme (feat. Sara Webb)|5:46 4 - 4.5 8|The Art of Easing|5:06 4.75 - 5 9|K.B.'s Alley (Mood Dudes Groove)|2:05 5     The best example of what their production style was capable of. 10|Graffiti (feat. Jeru the Damaja)|4:03 4.5 - 5     "I got the coooooncrete.. under my feet/I got the shotty/right next to my body." Jeru is really quiet for some reason. 11|Blowing Down|3:51 4 - 4.75     On this beat, though, their deliveries could have more punch to match. 12|9th Wonder (Blackitolism) (feat. Jazzy Joyce)|4:27 5     Could have been every bit the hit "Cool Like Dat" was. " 13|For Corners (feat. Monica Payne & Sulaiman)|7:02 5 Overall: 60 - 62 4.69/5 92 - 95%: Best of decade; BUY IT Blowout Comb is one of those albums any hip-hop fan should be glad to have in their collection. This is another album that I would play a lot at work when I worked at a record store, mostly because I'd been displaying it prominently on the shelf and no one was buying the signs, so I decided to go guerilla style. Which never worked either. The only explanation I can think of is the fear of the unknown; I can count on both hands and maybe a foot the number of albums I've heard that sound even remotely similar (spoiler: only the Roots have come very close). It certainly can't be lack of boom bap, the kick drums here are thunderous ("Dog It"). Perhaps the music isn't aggressive enough, though I've always felt that says something poor about the quality of a music listener who can only tolerate the hard stuff. But, if you want it, Digable Planets have got it. Dripping like fucking water. The secret to the album's success is its creative spirit. More than just some beat loops blasting through studio speakers as the MCs throw rhymes off each other, for this release Digable decided to involve themselves in the music they love. In addition to plenty of familiar loops to any jazz rap fan, the band members are joined by a thick roster of local musicians and vocalists. They would jam in the studio for hours, taking the best moments of those jams and adding them to the mix. The result is some incredibly unique production that maintains the tightly constructed rhythms hip-hop listeners have come to love while pushing the melodies of the beats more into the forefront than most groups would dare. These sessions would allow songs like "Jettin'" (a song that shows its fair share of influence on New Orleans MC Curren$y) and "For Corners" to develop in almost any way they please. The musical direction and practice also manifests in the musicality of the stuff: tracks like "Black Ego" and "Dial 7" have a certain way of opening, rising, climaxing, falling and closing that most artists forgo in favor of getting in your grill, or at least right to the point. Like the Roots, it's as entertaining to watch these beats evolve through several different motions as it is listen to the MCs. Lyrically, one can find plenty to complain about if they're looking to complain. But when it comes to that, I think about this guy I vaguely know that talks a lot about the poisoning of the hip-hop culture through excessive capitalism and niché marketing. The spirit of hip-hop isn't to take an MC like Ladybug Mecca and say she's not as good a rapper as The Notorious B.I.G., therefor her music is inferior. What the MCs do on this album is essentially host a jazzy evening block party in Brooklyn. You can picture these guys set up on a small stage in the middle of a baseball field or open parking lot around the way, all the neighborhood out in the street grilling up, or up against the wall smoking, laughing and drinking. They bring a very specific place and time to mind, but unlike many artists that evoke that unique, somehow national nostalgia for New York in the 1990s, the DP's do it with a sense of wonder and joy. Their music reminds you that for every corner, there's a stoop, for every shootout a game of double dutch. As an alternative to the typical gospels of hip-hop, there are in my mind none better than Blowout Comb. This music influenced a wide variety of the token Groups for People Who Don't Like Rap, from The Roots to Slum Village to countless Japanese artists. Uncompromising, slick, amazing. "My pops say books, I say sneaks and name buckles Pigs say freeze boy, shit, I just chuckles Fence Alley" "I'm slicker this year I'm slicker this year Myrtle Ave. A Train, got the pick in my hair and, what, 16 joints later still lounge"
royals Jun 05 2009 [Rating23002008]	Pretty boring stuff to fall asleep with. I pretty much still liked their debut Reachin' but one album of this lazy style is more then enough.
elgringocolombiano May 09 2009 decent [Rating22460968]	Digable Planets 1994 Blowout Comb BEATS 2.5 GOOD 2/11 (exclude 6 9 [interlude]) 9th Wonder Jettin Digable Planets (DP) are a rap group from Brooklyn, NYC, consisting of rappers Butterfly (Bf), Doodlebug (Db), & Ladybug Mecca (LM).  This is DP’s 2nd studio album. VOCALS  Typical DP: Bf is a decent rapper, with a good voice.  Db is a decent rapper.  LM is a decent rapper, with a good unique sexy voice. I recommend skipping this, & instead listening to Digable Planets 1993 Reachin.
laserx54 Jan 07 2009 CD [Rating19971203]	Digable Planets - their talent was only exceeded by their modesty. They were everything a rap group should be. They wore their influences on their sleeve and seemed to rap with very little effort. I'm convinced that if they hadn't called it quits they would have released several classic albums. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. The group was very much against the times and Blowout Comb would prove to be their final album (for now at least). The main thing about this is that there is no breakout single like "Cool Like Dat". It doesn't surprise me. Digable was lucky as hell to have been played on mainstream radio, and without it this album may never have existed. Blowout Comb is just 13 tracks of pure poetry laid over some very chilled out samples. I enjoy the production on this a lot more than their debut and I believe this is because it appears they have moved past their Blue Note fixation. In addition, it looks like they relocated to Brooklyn - before it was considered trendy. Just check out their Roy Ayers remake on "Borough Check". The album also benefits from ill guest appearances from Guru and Jeru the Damaja. Overall, a totally blissed out record that is even more solid than their debut. For my money the jazz-rap genre doesn't get much better than this.
_JMFG_ Oct 29 2008 CD [Rating18667908]	Probably one of the most slept-on hip-hop LPs ever.  Tight production throughout, and nice thick lyrics as well.  Contains what may be Guru's sickest verse ever, on "Borough Check", along with gems like "For Corners" and "Jettin'".  Not a bad or even mediocre track on the album.
Zephos Oct 25 2008 Great CD [Rating18584310]	Kind of like De La Soul, Digable Planets, an arty alt rap act, met with major success on their debut. And like De La Soul they found themselves not altogether comfortable with the attention and pigeonholing that came along with it. And like De La Soul they reacted against this hype on their sophomore release by pulling against it. But this isn't a "De La Soul Is Dead" at all, they haven't changed any of the ingredients of their first album, rather instead they've changed the execution. The beats on "Reachin" were more overt and had a clear hooky aspect to them. Those have been abandoned for a far subtler and low-key listen that aims to create less a basic jazz rap listen then it does a groove. The production sounds very similar in it's flavor, except this time some live jazz is incorporated with the samples and it adds a much more organic edge to the proceedings. The emcees have refined themselves slightly into melting into the music, not that any of them were overt before, but here more then before they really inhabit the beats. Though the bohemian NY era was essentially dead in 94' it did see a number of very strong jazz rap albums emerge from the murk and keep the spirit alive. What I don't get is why Digable Planets broke up after this release. It didn't sell anywhere near as well as their debut, and the mid-90's weren't friendly to alt rap, but all the same... they proved with this just how much potential they had. And so more music from them would have been nice to hear. Rating: 4 Highlights: Black Ego, Borough Check, Graffiti, Blowing Down
nervenet Sep 23 2008 Very good - strong but perhaps not great CD [Rating1156479]	I love this record even if my grade doesn't seem to reflect it.  It's a great sound, everything is of a piece, it's drenched in aura - drenched in too much, unfortunately, to keep the words clear and up front (at least on the humble sound system that I'm accustomed to listening on) and that is its chief failing. Where the debut was mellow grooves and good vibes that never sacrificed its words, this one goes for a jagged groove and darker vibe. Intriguing stuff that makes it all the more frustrating that it takes away from the lyrics, which are again smart, though this time out shot through with a more militant feel that's reflected back outward to the music. But yeah, it's a joy to listen to with "Black Ego" and "9th Wonder" always clearing the haze away and slicing through to grab my attention even if many of the other tracks allow me to drift away too readily. I'm always glad to force my focus back to it but i don't feel like I should have to. I mean, it's not an ambient record, is it? Ambient-militant rap? I guess it could be - the only and the best record in the sub-genre if so.
diction Sep 09 2008 Classic CD [Rating9647108]	Lyrics: 3.75 Beats: 4.5 The Digable Planets sophmore album might have been three times less popular than their debut but it is twice as good. Not that there is anything wrong with "Reachin'", it's an excellent record but they really pushed their sound forward for this one. The album was so ahead of its time that it could easily pass off as a 2008 release, the production is really up to today's standards even if it was released 14 years ago. One of the things that helped pushed their sound is the addition of actual jazz musicians on top of the sampled drums. This ranges from bass, guitar, cello, vibes, keyboards, saxophones and all of this gives the album lots of rich details to digest. Guru might have started this concept with Jazzmatazz the previous year and he did it well, but the Planets just take this idea way further into a real complete masterpiece. One of the other things I really love about the album is the drums, they just sound so hard and tight but never really mess up the mellow vibe of the record. Again the Planets have a laid-back chill delivery, and while they might not be the most gifted lyricists, their style just fits perfectly for this type of production. I pretty much only have positive things to say about this album, it's an under-appreciated classic that's somehow overlooked due to the success of their debut album. Highly recommended and arguably the peak of the jazz-rap sound.

distribution 0.5   1 1.0   2 1.5   1 2.0   11 2.5   10 3.0   34 3.5   59 4.0   115 4.5   85 5.0   31

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