Ishmael Butler, the 47-year-old Digable Planets member who performs as Palaceer Lazaro in Shabazz, tells EW.
I call Flying Lotus house the Wizards Nest, because hes a wizard, man, Butler explains.
Hes just sitting up there in his crib making the illest music.
Credit: Victoria Kovios
Wed all just be sitting in there making songs and jamming out.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How do the lyrical themes and the stories on the two albums interact with each other?
Your phones like a phantom limb almost.
Its like the behavior of somebody thats kind of jealous, that really wants your attention.
Youre not giving it to them, but theyre pulling on you.
I see the rig as being a real seminal turning point in human evolution.
I participate and I have fun with it and I work on it.
I dont use it that much.
I think its because of my age.
I dont trust it in every kind of way.
Ive got kids and theyre always on it.
Its a part of their body almost.
Im just looking at that and writing about my feelings about it.
[Theres] this notion that America is a promised land.
It becomes a me-versus-you, us-versus-them thing.
I see it manifesting itself in every place.
He was elected already when we were doingBorn on a Gangster Star.
Artists have been addressing these themes in their music, but theyre longstanding themes.
I didnt think he was going to win.
And the fact that he was able to win just goes to show you, hes just the result.
Its not like hes the pinnacle of where we are right now.
All of the things that led up to that have been boiling and brewing for quite some time now.
They always have represented themselves through music and artistic expression.
Theres an atomic, chromosomal thing thats inside a lot of us that gets brought out.
We come from this extraterrestrial history.
That manifests itself and comes out in these forms of expression.
When I was a kid, I found myself drawn to that kind of stuff.
I knew that was a home for me.
That was familiar to me.
Regarding your collaborators, the press notes say appearing here in body or in spirit.
He took Shabazz on tour with the Voidz.
Hes always been a supporter.
I love what he does and his s too, even back since the Strokes.
We wanted to work together.
We tried to do it, but it didnt work out because of timing and this and that.
We wanted to be together in the studio.
Not because it wasnt good, we just didnt get the chance to get it right.
I ended up doing some singing on it and thats why I called the song Julians Dream.
