Digable Planets Plot ‘Reachin’ 25th Anniversary Reissue
Seminal Brooklyn hip-hop trio Digable Planets will celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), with a new reissue package out February 23rd via Light In the Attic.
The album will be re-released as a double LP, marking the first time Reachin’ has been available on vinyl since its original 1993 release. A limited edition version pressed on non-metallic gold-colored wax will be available as well. The reissue will also include a full lyrics sheet and liner notes from Larry Mizzell Jr. featuring an interview with Digable Planets MC Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler (Butler also fronts the Seattle hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces).
In 1993, Reachin’ offered a revolutionary spin on hip-hop, smoothing out the genre’s hard edges with a sound that relied heavily on jazz samples and intricate lyricism that drew heavily from literature and revolutionary politics. Despite the record’s left-field stylings, Digable Planets scored a surprise hit with “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat),” which peaked at Number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Digable Planets only released one more album after Reachin’, 1994’s Blowout Comb, which Light in the Attic reissued in 2013. Last year, the trio reunited for a tour, and over the summer they released a live album documenting the trek.