Led by Grammy-winning ex-Digable Planets MC Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler—who now does business under the moniker Palaceer Lazaro—Shabazz Palaces have been turning out some opaquely produced, envelope-pushing tunes for a couple of years now.

Early on, almost two years ago now, they got director Khalil Joseph—who recently directed Seu Jorge’s “The Model” video—to put together something for their tune “Bellhaven Meridian.” Lots to love in the untypical video, including the fact that it’s one take. But Joseph takes an interesting short detour to recreate a scene from Killer of Sheep, African-American director Charles Burnett’s poetic black & white neo-realist film from 1978.

Depicting the trials of a Watts slaughterhouse worker, his family, and his community, Killer… went unreleased for a while due to the prohibitive licensing costs of Burnett’s proposed soundtrack. It was finally restored and resurfaced in 2007 and is available on DVD.
 

 
Here’s the powerful scene from Killer of Sheep that Joseph mimicked…
 

 
Get: Killer of Sheep: The Charles Burnett Collection [DVD]
 
Get: Shabazz Palaces [CD]