Black Up

Black Up, released in 2011 by Shabazz Palaces, is an experimental and abstract hip hop album that blends hip hop rhythms with electronic textures and dub-influenced low end. The production favors sparse, fragmented beats, layered atmospheres and unconventional song structures, while Palaceer Lazaro's cryptic, stream-of-consciousness vocals and afrofuturist imagery give the record an otherworldly feel. The album is noted for pushing alternative hip hop toward more textural, experimental territory and for influencing underground artists working at the intersection of hip hop, electronic and avant garde sounds.