Seattle-based experimental hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces capped off 2014 by releasing a new track, “Ham Sandwich”, through their Twitter account on December 31st.
“Ham Sandwich” comes on the heels of the group’s 2014 album, “Lese Majesty“, which was a follow up to Shabazz Palaces’s “Black Up” (2011). The new song deals with the issue of police brutality. This issue has become a polarizing topic in the media during 2014, following a series of incidents involving police officers.
“Ham Sandwich” features the group’s trademark pointed unflinching lyrics, and has been produced in a way that raises the feeling of uneasiness created within the verses. MusicTimes describes “Ham Sandwhich” as being “backed by a relatively traditional boom bap beat, along with some wonderfully spacey and psychedelic production flourishes.” And, the group has taken a direct approach, with the entire track abruptly ending just after two minutes. The abrupt finish has caused MusicTimes to question if this new song isn’t a just a teaser of a longer take. (At this time, we cannot independently verify if it is, or is not.) Despite the minimalistic time frame, Shabazz Palaces structured the words and the beats in a way that creates a lasting and vivid impression.
Here’s the original Shabazz Palaces tweet:
Magic Makes the Music More https://t.co/xVAqkW0XHY
— Shabazz Palaces (@shabazzpalaces) December 31, 2014
Check it out “Ham Sandwich”, below.