Digable Planets
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Artist · chart history

Digable Planets

Band Brooklyn Active 1992–2011

Digable Planets formed in 1992 in Brooklyn and was active until 2011. Digable Planets has 11 chart appearances on 7 radio countdowns from 5 stations on RockLists, spanning 2020–2025. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”, which appears on 5 lists with a best position of #201. The station that charted Digable Planets most often is The Colorado Sound (Fort Collins–Denver, CO), with 4 appearances.

11appearances
7countdowns
5songs charted
5stations
0#1 finishes
2020–2025years

Digable Planets were the coolest cats in the room: a Brooklyn hip-hop trio of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, Mariana "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving, rapping in insect aliases over loping, jazzy grooves. They ran jazz rap and alternative hip-hop through a haze of bohemian cool, and they sounded like nobody else.

Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), from 1993, is their laid-back manifesto. "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)" is the one everybody knows, a finger-snapping groove so relaxed it barely seems to move, and "Where I'm From" and "It's Good to Be Here" float along the same smoky current. By 1994 the Grammys had them up for Best New Artist.

Blowout Comb followed in 1994, murkier and more insistent, with "9th Wonder (Blackitolism)" among its highlights. It's a record that rewards the patient listener. Blue Note and Pendulum Records both appear among their labels.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

Songs by Digable Planets on radio countdowns

#SongStrengthListsBest#1sPeak year
1 Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)
251
5 #201 – –
2 Where I'm From
181
3 #66 – –
3 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
35
1 #578 – –
4 Jimmi Diggin Cats
27
1 #665 – –
5 It's Good to Be Here
17
1 #616 – –

Albums with charting songs

Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.

Every countdown appearance

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