Shabazz Palaces - Take Me To Your Leader (feat. Lavarr the Starr)

What this video is

Released in March 2024 on Sub Pop, 'Take Me To Your Leader' is the closing track of Exotic Birds of Prey, Shabazz Palaces' second mini-album in five months. The project is masterminded by Ishmael Butler — a Digable Planets veteran and Sub Pop A&R — who has continuously reimagined hip-hop since the 1990s. The track features Butler's alter-ego Lavarr the Starr, a persona previously active on Butler's own Glass Cane…

Why it matters

The video documents Shabazz Palaces' position at the vanguard of 2020s experimental hip-hop, synthesizing Afrofuturism, 1980s electro, synth-funk, and abstract rap into a singular aesthetic. As the closing statement of Exotic Birds of Prey, it exemplifies Butler's practice of building conceptual…