— by Rodrigo Perez
After a seven-year exile, Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler has returned in the form of frontman for the velvety funk band Cherrywine.
But don't call it a comeback. Butler — one-third of the now-defunct Digable Planets — may have seemed to be lying dormant, but the rapper-turned-musician/actor has kept busy.
"I'd been living life ... but always [making] music," Butler said in his laid-back drawl.
Just as things were beginning to take off for Digable Planets, the group got derailed. Fresh off a Grammy for their seminal 1993 jazz-rap single "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," they upped the creative ante with the afro-centric follow-up Blowout Comb (1994). While the politically charged LP was critically venerated, commercially the album fell on deaf ears, and then seemingly out of nowhere Digable Planets called it quits.
"It wasn't a funky situation. It was like, 'Nah, we not feelin' it anymore,' " Butler said. "Tastes were [changing] ... and at the time we were embittered by the business. Labels were putting pressure on us that we didn't want to deal with. We were young and weren't in it for the money. If you're not smiling, it's not really worth it."
After the demise of Digable, Butler moved home to Seattle to chill, make music and be with family. For six years Butler was off the radar, but the rapper kept busy recording two unreleased solo records that became victims of record label tribulations.
Despite the setbacks, Butler forged on. "Triumph and defeat go hand in hand as a musician or any kind of artistic endeavor in life," he said. "You have to use those things as motivation to pursue the next triumph."
In Seattle, Butler taught himself how to play guitar and hooked up with local musicians and brothers Gerald "Tugboat" Turner and Thaddeus Turner, who encouraged his playing and helped add new live dynamics to what would become Cherrywine's debut record.
While laying the groundwork for his next musical move, Butler composed music for commercials and appeared in the indie films "I Am Ali" and "We Deliver."
Acting became just another method of expression. "You have to have style and instinct and a combination of the two of them," Butler said. "That kind of pressure motivates some, but it also makes other people crumble, so you find out who you are in those situations."
While Cherrywine are still firmly rooted in hip-hop, thanks to the newfound instrumentation the group's brand of freaky future funk branches out, adding elements of libidinous stank, ecstasy-laden psychedelia and blues. The results have earned Cherrywine favorable comparisons to Outkast, Prince and Sly & the Family Stone.
Trading jazz for funk, part of Butler's maturation process was also dropping the slogans and exploring a more personal and sensual side to his lyrics. "Some of Digable Planets' music was political," Butler said. "But at the same time it was rhetorical, and I wasn't really politically active on a day-to-day basis, so I didn't want to give lip service to serious issues.
"With these lyrics ... I wanted to be more concise and efficient and ... be more true to my emotions and what's going on in my life, so it's more about reality and truth than political agendas, " he said.
While he may have eschewed the political, Cherrywine's debut album, Bright Black, still shines with themes of black positivity.
"Sometimes when people see the physical color of black, they tend to associate it with darkness, but I'm thinking about illumination coming from inside. The characteristic of something that is bright, something that is shiny no matter what the surface veneer is. The brightness of blackness, being black, the music, the sound, the syncopation, the style of dress, the look, the hair, everything."
And rather than indict bling-bling and the cash-money flaunting of popular hip-hop, the first single, "Dazzlement," examines floss on a more positive note. "That's my ode to the champagne life. It's my observation and ode to it all — the dazzling effect of hip-hop culture, it's just a brilliant shiny light." Butler said.
While the sensual funk-meets-hip-hop sound is a far cry from the boho jazzy consciousness of Digable Planets, Butler is unconcerned how people might react. "Some people like what you do and some people like what you've done, and a fan likes what you're doing," he said nonchalantly.
Regardless of whether fans connect with Cherrywine, Butler's already looking to the next record thanks to his still-growing musicianship. "The more you know ... the more you understand that there's so much more to figure out," he said. "It's kind of like standing in the middle of a real wide desert and knowing that any direction you go you'll be able to find some water to drink."
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