Seattle surrealists Shabazz Palaces have proved themselves one of the more radically thoughtful—and thoughtfully radical—hip-hop projects of this century. Following a path charted by Afro-futurists from Funkadelic to Kool Keith, Born on a Gangster Star—a companion to the simultaneously released Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines—is both a rap album and a deconstruction of one, swerving through a jigsaw of soul (“Shine a Light”), synth ambience (“Federalist Papers”) and electro (“Eel Dreams”) with wit, cool and a heavy dose of dream logic.