Critically acclaimed hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces comes to the Doris Duke Theatre on Friday, during an exciting week in Honolulu, with Pow! Wow! Hawaii in full swing.

The Seattle-based duo is made up of Ishmael Butler aka Palaceer Lazaro (formerly Butterfly in Grammy award-winning hip-hop group Digable Planets), and beatmaker/percussionist/self-taught multi-instrumentalist Tendai “Baba” Maraire, son of Zimbabwean mbira master Dumisani Maraire.

This is no ordinary concert, as Shabazz Palaces is known for soulful, transcendant, jazz- and psychedelia-tinged hip-hop performances that are attuned to the vibrations of African-American life. (The duo’s most recent albums are a 2017 double release, “Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Star” and “Quazarz vs the Jealous Machines.”) Those who admire the genre-crossing and lyrical ambitions of artists such as Kendrick Lamar should also find much to admire in the experimental, adventurous hip-hop of Butler and Maraire.

The concert promises a vibrant performance that traverses space and time, as Shabazz Palaces continues to chronicle the character Quazarz, a being sent to our world who finds a “cutthroat place … alternative facts and death masquerading as connectivity.”

It also partners Shabazz Palaces with the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Soundshop program, which brings music education to youth on Oahu. Now in its sixth year, it has reached over 2,000 students statewide.

Butler’s concern for youthful cultural influences coincides with the aims of Soundshop. In Shabazz Palaces’ release for “Quazarz,” he states the alter-ego’s directive: “Stay away from your device — your phantom limb — and stay away from your image — your phantom self; that is his decree.

“Considering the motions behind the things you like to consume artistically, rather than just the way something looks or sounds, and thinking in layers, and trying to be more considerate and not so self-oriented — this is (Quazarz’) medicine for combat.”

Honolulu hip-hop collective Super Groupers, PaizLee and Ian O’Sullivan open for Shabazz Palaces today. Concert producer Jeanne P. Mathis got together with Navid Najafi, a member of Super Groupers and one of Soundshop’s administrators, to describe the program.

QUESTION: How did Soundshop come to be?

ANSWER: It was an idea that I, Martin Dixon and Scott Ohtoro came up with when we performed as Super Groupers at the Doris Duke. We met Taylour Chang, who had recently become the new theater director. At the time, I had done a bunch of work with Pacific Tongues and had gone through their poet facilitator training where they taught the structure of how to run workshops.

We came up with an idea to do a performance/workshop at the museum and we wanted to involve students. I had already been doing volunteer work in classrooms, and Scott had been a math teacher here and in Los Angeles. So we approached Taylour about doing a one-off show to connect with some kids, perform and tell our stories. We ended up talking about doing more workshops. Taylour reached out to some schools and there was definitely a need.

“The first year was just Super Groupers, but we added a guest performer, Punahele. He was a natural and he clicked with the kids — they loved him; they saw themselves. We knew he needed to be a part of this. The next year we got some funding. Since the second year it’s been Punahele, his friend Rukka, and Super Groupers. (Honolulu hip-hop artist) Cedric Clinton has also become an administrator.

Q: How does homegrown hip-hop resonate with kids?

A: We try to get guest artists from the communities that the kids are from. It makes a big impact when you see someone from your community or your school, your neighborhood repping and being onstage at a museum. To the kids, it’s so powerful. And we are very real and raw with them because we come from the same places.

I always tell my story about how I came from Iran and how we escaped the war. Only being able to communicate mainly through music and hip-hop in the beginning, I made my first friends from memorizing lyrics and rapping in school. It’s definitely important having someone you can identify with. My immigrant experience helps kids identify with me and allows me to identify with them, kids who know English as their second language. English is my second language. Sharing our stories shows them different perspectives of the world.

Q: Where do you see Soundshop in the next few years?

A: We’d like to reach out to Maui, Kauai, the Big Island. We would like to expand our funding and opportunities to do more workshops. Ultimately, we are trying to develop our curriculum. Every workshop we do has a different theme. We want to interact with local artists in each community, utilizing the artist’s experiences and strengths and teaching them how to present the workshops. Ultimately we’d like to see Soundshop in every community.