After the release of the debut, the Digable Planets move from Philadelphia to New York and settle in Brooklyn, changing their image: musically, they keep a jazz aura, while lyrically, they renounce the concept of "space insects" and set aside part of their abstract nature, bringing more clearly Afrocentric arguments to the table.
Ishmael Butler aka Butterfly changes moniker to Ish, Mary Vieira aka Ladybug becomes Mecca, and Craig Irving aka Doodlebug becomes C-Know. The production, credited to the group and Dave Darlington, brilliantly blends amazing samples and excellent live instrumentation, creating a smooth, cohesive, crisp, splendid jazz sound. The lyricism is pretty functional, there are excellent guests like Guru and Jeru the Damaja, as well as contributions from Sara Webb, Jazzy Joyce and Monica Payne, and the rapping of the performers is relaxed, calm and effortless, at times inaudible, but sonically, it's one of the best hip-hop albums of the decade and is an easy contender as the best of the year. Unfortunately, EMI isn't totally aware of the goodness of the project and, via Pendulum, doesn't promote it adequately: the album remains far in the charts (top 15 among hip-hop records, top 35 in the Billboard 200) and marks the dissolution of the group at the beginning of '95. Appreciated by critics and fans in retrospect, it's one of the freshest records of the year, a sensational must-listen for any fan of jazz rap.
Rating: 9/10.
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