Ishmael Butler on Lightnin' Rod's "Hustlers Convention"
Ishmael Butler aka Butterfly of Digable Planets aka one-half of Shabazz Palaces joined us to take us on a trip back to the blaxploitation era and one of the greatest soundtracks-in-search-of-a-movie: Hustlers Convention, the spoken word/funk album by Jalal Nuriddin of The Last Poets. Backed up musicians that included Kool and the Gang, Eric Gale and others, Hustlers Conventiontook listeners on a trip into the world of pimps, players, police and other street characters in a vivid, cinematic story that would go onto inspire rappers the world over.
More on Lightnin' Rod and Hustlers Convention
- Documentary about the album and other street poets of the early '70s.
- Graeme Thompson's story about the album for The Guardian
- Red Bull Music Academy's feature on the album.
More on Ishmael Butler
- Oliver's profile of Shabazz Palaces for Bandcamp.
- Tim Larew's interview with Butler for Pigeons and Planes.
- Twitter for Shabazz Palaces | Instagram for Shabazz Palaces
Show Tracklisting (all songs from Hustler's Conventionunless indicated otherwise):
- ”Sport”
- Digable Planets: Reaching’”The Rebirth of Slick”
- Curtis Mayfield: Superfly “Superfly”
- ”Hamhock’s Hall Wa Big”
- ”Spoon”
- ”The Shit Hits The Fan Again”
- ”The Break Was So Loud It Hushed The Crowd”
- ”Sentenced To The Chair”
- ”Brother Hominy Grit”
- Shabazz Palace: Lese Majesty “Forerunner Foray”
- Dr. Dre: Deep Cover “Deep Cover Feat. Snoop Dogg”
- Raekwon: Only Built 4 Cuban Linx”Heaven & Hell”
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