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

Digable Planets Digable Planets () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987. The trio is composed of rappers Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, Mariana "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira, and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving. The group is notable for their contributions to the subgenre ...

released on February 9, 1993, by

Pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward th ...

/ Elektra Records. The album has been certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in the US by the RIAA.

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 ''Blowout Comb'' is the second studio album by American hip hop group Digable Planets, released October 18, 1994, on Pendulum/EMI Records. The album was written and recorded in Brooklyn, New York, where the group moved, with recording sessions be ...

'', 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 "A New Refutation of Time" (original Spanish title: "Nueva refutación del tiempo") is an essay by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (written between 1944 and 1946) in which he argues that the negations of idealism may be extended to time. It c ...

'', an essay by Argentinian author

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

, as well as the tendency of earlier jazz musicians in naming their albums (''

Moanin' ''Moanin'' (originally titled ''Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers'') is a jazz album by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded in 1958 for the Blue Note label and released in 1959. Background This was Blakey's first album for Blue Note ...

'', '' 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) "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" is a song by American hip hop trio Digable Planets, released as the first single from their debut album, '' Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space)'', in November 1992. The black-and-white music video was ...

" 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 The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance. The award was discontinu ...

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 Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

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