Most of us probably thought Butterfly, former front man for hiphop sensation Digable Planets, had fell off the map. While he may have been under the radar, he has been keeping busy. After recording a solo album that was shelved, he starred in the short film, "I Am Ali," which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. Butterfly's new project, Cherrywine, will be released off of DCide - in partnership with Gadfly Communications - and focus on live instrumentation. I caught up with Butterfly to get the lowdown on the new project, find out more about his hiatus from hiphop, and his newfound love for playing instruments and acting.

Jbutters: Its been a long time since we heard any music from you, I come across cats everyday that miss Digable Planets. After the second album its like you guys vanished. What happened?

Butterfly: After the second album the group just broke up. Most of it is personal, but it boiled down to creative differences. Everybody tried to do their own thing musically. I got a deal with a label called Red Ant to do an album, but when they went out of business the album just got shelved.

How long have you been recording in Seattle?

I been out here for about 5 months recording. I've been going back and forth between here and New York, but I'm originally from Seattle. I moved to NY about 15 years ago and did the music thing out there, but everyone in my band is from out here.

How is the vibe different in

Seattle than in NYC?

It's a lot less people, a lot of water, and a lot of trees. Niggas are a little bit more relaxed. It rains a lot, but I don't buy into the idea that rain equals melancholy. It's just calm, wet, and funky. It's west coast, but not as intense as California. It's definitely a vibe to it and most of it you can call out and calculate, but I bet the hottest parts of it you probably can't put into words, but you can put it into music.

How do you think that is going to translate onto the album as opposed to recording in another location?

I don't think it's really up to me to say, because it's like looking in the mirror and trying to tell motherfuckers what I look like, then I'm a cornball.

Do you feel like the time you have had away from hiphop has given you any sort of edge coming back into the scene?