For those expecting a new album from the Grammy award winning and jazz savvy hip-hop band the Digable Planets, this could be something of a wind-up. Folks have already queried the misleading moniker – The Creamy Spy Chronicles – when the album amounts to little more than a greatest hits package amassed from a selection of quality B-Sides, tidy remixes and singles. But for a band that can boast no more than two albums proper (1993’s ‘Reachin: A New Refutation of Time and Space and 1994’s ‘Blowout Comb’) do you seriously expect them to sell us the idea of a career spanning ‘Greatest Hits’ record? In light of the fact that a genuine reunion and new album is already in the pipeline, my guess is that ‘The Creamy Spy Chronicles’ represents something of a reintroduction; a chance to get reacquainted with the band’s soft and slippery butterfly rap.
Deliberately rejecting the crude, aggressive arrogance of mainstream rap and hip-hop the band failed to get the credit they deserved beyond the Grammy they snagged for their debut album. For their own part though, the rich, creamy trio of Butterfly, Ladybug and Doodlebug crafted a bagful of gentle, bouncy jazz grooves that would later inspire the likes of Télépopmusik, Royskopp, DJ Krush and Zero 7. Chances are that even the less informed amongst you will still recall the dreamy flows of ‘Dial 7’, ‘Rebirth Of Slick’, ‘Nickel Bags’ and ‘Where ‘m From’ – a slick, frosty programme of 50s hipster slang, puffing sax and cruising finger-snaps.
Chill like that. Smooth like that. Funk like that. Zoom like that. Creamy like that. Makes me want to smoke puff, that’s what it does.