''Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)'' is the debut album by

alternative hip hop Alternative hip hop (also known as alternative rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising " hip hop groups that refuse to confor ...

group Digable Planets released on February 9, 1993, by Pendulum/

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

. The album has been certified Gold in the US by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Production

The album was produced by Digable Planets' Ishmael Butler ("Butterfly") and features raps from Butler, Irving and Viera. The production leans heavily on jazz samples, Butler explaining that "it was all about resources, really...I just went and got the records that I had around me. And a lot of those were my dad's shit, which was lots of jazz. The whole concept of 'We're a jazz group' didn't go down like that. Except that DJ Premier was a big influence, and he sampled a lot of jazz." Lyrically, the tone of the album is less overtly political than its successor '' Blowout Comb'', but still touches on issues such as abortion rights ("La Femme Fetal") and the drug abuses of jazz musicians ("Last of the Spiddyocks"). The album title derives from '' A New Refutation of Time'', an essay by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges, as well as the tendency of earlier jazz musicians in naming their albums ('' Moanin''', '' Cookin''', etc). Butler and Irving give a track-by-track account of the album and its production in Brian Coleman's book '' Check the Technique''.

Reception

The single " Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" became a hit in 1993, breaking into the Top 15 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and winning Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1994. In 1998, ''Reachin was listed in The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums. In 2008, "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" was ranked number 62 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.Stereogum: VH1’s 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs
/ref> The song "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" was used for a Tide commercial in 2009.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reachin' (A New Refutation Of Time And Space) 1993 debut albums Digable Planets albums Elektra Records albums Pendulum Records albums