Photo courtesy of Sub Pop

The opening words of the final song on Shabazz Palaces’ Sub Pop debut, Black Up, sums up the band’s entire MO: “If you talk about it, it’s a show/But if you move about it, then it’s a go.” In this world of rubbery samples, rain-stick beats and inscrutable lyrics, talk is cheap and intellect secondary to instinct. The one rule upheld by these consummate rule breakers: Don’t ask what it all means. Just feel it.

That rule goes for the track’s title, “Swerve… the reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding).” Self-explanatory, no?

Mystery is part of Shabazz Palaces’ charm, and it’s all over “Swerve…,” a multi-movement composition that spans minimalist hip-hop, dubstep and R&B as if positing the future of Black music were second nature to Shabazz mastermind Palaceer Lazaro. Voices appear and recede, bass bubbles, percussion rattles, and on the outro, a mantra binds it all together: “Black is you/Black is me/Black is us/Black is free.” The line’s a suggestion of universal Afro-futurism mirroring one from ‘90s jazz-hop heroes Digable Planets’ first album, Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space). Which isn’t a surprise; 15 years ago, Lazaro (real name Ishmael Butler) went by Butterfly and won a Grammy with Digable Planets. With Shabazz Palaces, he’s moved on to a whole new solar system.