Shabazz Palaces (US)

A rapper on the Sub Pop roster? Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler doesn’t know the meaning of the word “impossible.” His career peaked two decades ago when the New York group Digable Planets redefined hip-hop with their gold record Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space). Butler soon dropped off the radar, only to return with his old band and later surprise the entire alternative music world with his latest incarnation, Shabazz Palaces. It comes as no surprise that the debut LP Black Up made it onto many critics’ year-end top 10 lists in 2011.