DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Ishmael Butler started playing the alto saxophone when he was in middle school, and then he went on to form one of the most important rap groups of the '90s, Digable Planets.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "REBIRTH OF SLICK (COOL LIKE DAT)")
ISHMAEL BUTLER: (Rapping) We be to rap what key be to lock but I'm cool like dat (ph). I'm cool like dat. I'm cool like dat. I'm cool like dat.
GREENE: The third iteration of Butler's career is Shabazz Palaces, which has just released its fourth album. As Frannie Kelley reports, his music spans generations.
FRANNIE KELLEY, BYLINE: Ishmael Butler is 50 now, but he's still hip.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WET")
I BUTLER: (Rapping) Shout out Based God, how could we all forget? All these rappers, still I remain unimpressed.
I BUTLER: I got to create to survive - I've reconciled that a long time ago - and try to loop that in with actually physically surviving and taking care of my responsibilities and having a place to live and helping out my family and stuff.
KELLEY: To do that, he has to navigate a marketplace that doesn't value the hard won as much as the brand new.
I BUTLER: But to me, it's an opportunity to figure all of that stuff out and then show what you can do and what your creativity is like by jumping in the ring with everybody else. I think that's fun.
KELLEY: And on Butler's newest album, "The Don Of Diamond Dreams," you can tell he's involved himself with what's happening.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MONEY YOGA")
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing) I gotta get my money. I gotta get my portion. I gotta get my money.
I BUTLER: (Rapping) This one goes out to my phase one.
DARRIUS WILLRICH: (Singing) Phase one, I got honey on my mind.
I BUTLER: (Rapping) This one goes out to my phase one.
WILLRICH: (Singing) Phase one, I got honey on my mind.
I BUTLER: (Rapping) This one goes out to my phase one.
WILLRICH: (Singing) Phase one, I got...
I BUTLER: Music-making, some people see it as the point of it is to stay in tradition. And what tradition often means is the period of time in their life when they felt young, affective, energetic. You know, anything that is subsequent to that lacks substance and thus merit. I don't want to miss out on the richness of the experiences that come from tapping into the currents.
KELLEY: Butler has easy access to the currents. His son, who's been making music for almost as long as Butler has been working as Shabazz Palaces, has emerged as one of the more influential contemporary artists.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DRUNK PUNX")
JAZZ BUTLER: (Singing) I'm good at being a bad boy. I'm a Goth Boi (ph). I'm not a sad boy. Tattoos on my neck and my face too. Live life fast, I wanna race you.
KELLEY: Jazz Butler performs and records at Lil Tracy. We FaceTimed.
(SOUNDBITE OF FACETIME RINGING)
J BUTLER: Hello?
KELLEY: Hey.
J BUTLER: Hey.
KELLEY: And I asked him to listen to something his dad told me.
J BUTLER: OK, hold up. Let me grab my headphones. OK.
I BUTLER: I think about him when he was younger and in middle school. And he was living with me, and he wasn't, like, really doing, quote-unquote, "good" in school. And I used to be on him, you know. And we would get into it.
J BUTLER: I used to get in a lot of trouble (laughter).
I BUTLER: But he always had this other vision of himself. You'd think as a parent and as an adult or somebody from a certain generation, you think you know, but you don't. You know what I mean? And that's - it's exciting.
J BUTLER: I've never heard that side of the story. I was definitely super rebellious, and my music is that. I feel like we would be the same if I was this age back then. You know, I'm the him of my generation.
KELLEY: His father's group, Digable Planets, disbanded once they felt the industry was treating their art like product. And on his most recent album, Ishmael Butler includes a song that confounds the expectations of popular music. It's a quiet ode to the women of his life.
(SOUNDBITE OF ISHMAEL BUTLER SONG, "THANKING THE GIRLS")
I BUTLER: All the women that raised me and made me be able to think and feel and have confidence to walk through this world - you know? - and all the ideas and sacrifices that they made. And then my daughters, you know, who remind me of all of those things and make me think about all of those things in multifaceted ways.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THANKING THE GIRLS")
I BUTLER: (Rapping) I'm thanking you girl for changing my life, for making me whole and being my wife, for holding me tight and all through the night and trusting in me and lusting for free.
KELLEY: The deepest through line between Ishmael and Jazz Butler might be their sincerity. As Lil Tracy, Jazz makes songs that dare you to doubt his feelings.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEART")
J BUTLER: (Singing) Let my love heal you. I just wanna feel you. I wanna know the real you. I don't pop Xans. I don't drink lean. You're my drug.
KELLEY: And when I drew a parallel between the natural groove that animates his dad's work and his, Jazz responded this way.
J BUTLER: I'm just - I'm happy to be his son. I don't know. I just feel lucky really. I feel like I was given a power.
KELLEY: For his part, Ishmael Butler feels lucky he came up when he did.
I BUTLER: Hip-hop really allowed and gave me a structure and a life, this really rich experience. I mean, it's crazy what these cats did without any even desire for it to be something that went past that night at the party or on the block. It was just pure. It was so pure. And look what it gave me, you know? So I appreciate that.
KELLEY: It gave him a way to support his family and never stop making what he wants. For NPR News, I'm Frannie Kelley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CHOCOLATE SOUFFLE")
I BUTLER: (Rapping) This is high art. I tear the form apart.
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