Its a Style Sport is a daring show of experimental hip-hop and free-form poetry, an ode to the rap game of years past, when the playfully competitive ambition drove the genre to always outdo, outrun, and out-finesse your peers.
The album features live instrumentation by members of Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets touring bands, and production by longtime collaborator Erik Blood.
For fans of Thundercat, Steve Lacy, Oneohtrix Point Never, MF Doom, Digable Planets, Stereolab.
Hometown: Seattle, WA

With bravado and precision, ever-evolving musician, producer, and rapper Ishmael Butler returns as Shabazz Palaces with Its a Style Sport. Its a Style Sport stays true to Shabazz Palaces' form in its daring show of experimental hip-hop and free-form poetry, while revealing a more reflective and upfront side of the Seattle musician. Its a Style Sport finds Butler compiling what hes learned from his storied career into a playful, shimmering portal, again proving himself an artist of chameleonic ambition, fueled by curiosity, courage, and a limitless imagination.
The album is the product of a collaborative, communal effort with many of Butlers touring band members: Evan Flory-Barnes on upright and electric bass; Thaddeus Turner on guitar, keyboards, and vocals; Kassa Overall on drums; Gerald Turner on bass and vocals; Marquetta Miller on vocals; and Carlos Overall on saxophone. Butlers longtime friend and collaborator Erik Blood provided instrumentation, production, and mixing.
On Its a Style Sport, a visage of Butlers past lives as a rapper and performer is flung up against his contemporary persona, taunting and illuminating. At its core, Its a Style Sport is an ode to the rap game of years past, when the playfully competitive ambition drove the genre to always outdo, outrun, and out-finesse your peers.