Millennium Park reached a new refutation of time and space Thursday evening.
Digable Planets, the Brooklyn hip-hop group that helped usher in the genre of jazz rap and the era of alternative hip-hop in the early 1990s, took the stage at Pritzker Pavilion before a rapt audience. As the band played, the crowd heated up despite the evening’s cool breezes.
The hip-hop trio of Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, Mariana “Ladybug Mecca” Vieira, and Craig “Doodlebug” Irving began collaborating in the late 1980s. Digable only released two studio albums: 1992’s Reachin’ (A New Refutation of Time and Space), with lyrics celebrating Brooklyn and Black identity over heavily sampled jazz records, and 1994’s Blowout Comb, which featured militant lyrics with greater emphasis on Black Power and communist themes.
Mother Nature, a Chicago hip-hop duo made up of rappers T.R.U.T.H. and Klevah, opened the set. Their 2020 album SNZNs featured brash beats and in-your-face lyrics, while their 2022 album Nature’s World, produced by Renzell, celebrates the environment and spirituality with laid-back lyrics and ethereal beats.
Backed by a live band, Digable ran through classics such as “Where I’m From,” “Nickel Bag of Funk,” “Jettin’,” and “Pacifics.” In the latter, they nodded to the Chicago faithful by changing the lyrics from “New York is red hot” to “Chi-town is red hot.” The audience, cheering, joined in.
The group nodded to other artists from the golden age of hip-hop, briefly delving into tracks such as “Luchini AKA This Is It” by Camp Lo and Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?” They also played “Searching” from the 1976 album Vibrations by Roy Ayers, whose pioneering jazz funk heavily influenced Digable’s lyrics and style.
In the front row, Domo and Kiki, two friends who live on the West Side, wore matching t-shirts emblazoned with “Digable Planets – Chicago 2025” and a picture of the group in its early days. Asked if they’d found the shirts at the band’s merchandise tent, they shook their heads.
“We had these made,” said Kiki, beaming. The shirts prompted Butterfly to give the pair a shout-out during the show. They were thrilled.
The concert ended abruptly a few minutes after 9:00 p.m. when an official told Doodlebug they had gone over time and had to stop the show immediately. The official had attempted to give them a five-minute warning from the wings of the stage, but the artists, who were facing the crowd, apparently didn’t see her.
Attendees, many of whom were anticipating a finale featuring Digable’s Grammy-winning 1993 hit single “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like That),” were disappointed by the abrupt ending.
Even still, it was good to be there.
Jim Daley is the Weekly’s investigations editor.
