Ishmael Butler’s new Sub Pop release grew from sessions with musicians who have shared his stages for years.
Shabazz Palaces has released It’s a Style Sport, a 10-track project that brings Ishmael Butler back together with a familiar circle of collaborators. The album arrived October 23 through Sub Pop, with “Ahh World (I Won The Alpha Bet),” “Jheri Curl Jump” and “Tongue In Chic” among its songs.
A key part of the recording process took place across eight days at Seattle’s Hall of Justice Studios. Butler brought song outlines to the sessions and left room for the players to develop them together, drawing on relationships formed in the touring bands of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets.
Those musicians include Evan Flory-Barnes on upright and electric bass, Kassa Overall on drums and Carlos Overall on saxophone. Thaddeus Turner contributed guitar, keyboards and vocals, while Gerald Turner supplied bass and vocals, putting several different instrumental voices around Butler’s writing.
Butler describes the project’s competitive spirit as a return to rap’s emphasis on style and substance. In Sub Pop’s album introduction, he frames that ambition as “Taking it back to what rap is really all about,” with showmanship and friendly rivalry informing the idea behind the title.
Shabazz Palaces and Erik Blood produced the album, and Blood also mixed it at Circular Ruin Studios in Brooklyn. Sub Pop’s release announcement lists additional recording at Seattle’s Lake View Studios and Los Angeles’ Parkman Labs, with Warren Defever handling mastering at Third Man Mastering in Detroit.
The release follows 2024’s Exotic Birds of Prey and is available digitally, on CD and on vinyl. Limited Loser edition pressings come in Metallic Silver for North America and Sparkle Starlight for the UK and Europe, subject to availability, giving the new record several physical editions alongside the streaming release.
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