Listen to Good hip-hop: Madlib
Madlib: Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats
This guy is a genius. He’s a musical prodigy. He’s got more than 13 aliases, each allowing for a metamorphosis of character and style that is stunning in its diversity. He’s a composer, a drummer, a DJ, a jazz musician, a beat-maker, a lyricist, a producer and one of the most original minds in music, not just today, but ever. In 2003 he told Mugshot Magazine that he considers himself a “DJ first, producer second and MC last,” but in limiting himself to those three categories he is either extremely modest, self-deluded, or high as shit.
While he might be most well known for his quirky pseudonym, Quasimoto, this funky and often psychedelic form of hip-hop does not even begin to define Madlib’s complicated aesthetic. Of course, that might be because Madlib’s aesthetic defies definition. It is a relative abstraction based on the character he is embodying, and is anything but static. The son of a jazz and soul musician, Madlib has been a pioneer in blending the genres with an understated hip-hop that is a fresh take on all three.
Search for Yesterday’s New Quintet, The Beat Konducta, Quasimoto, DJ Rels, Ahmad Miller, Monk Hughes, Malik Flavors, Joe Mcdurphy, Monk Hughes and the Outer Realm, The Joe McDurphy Experience or Astro Black and all will bring you back to Otis Jackson Jr.- Madlib.
From 2002’s “Blunted in the Bomb-shelter,” a remixed dub of old reggae beats infused with a touch of ska, to 2004’s “Madvillany,” a collaboration with another bizarre genius of sorts, MF DOOM, Madlib is well recognized within the hip-hop community to be an innovator in changing the way we think of the genre.
Check out: Mind Fusion Vols. 1-3, Blunted in the Bomb-shelter, Beat Konducta Vols. 1-4 (India, his most recent, is a subtle fusion of traditional Indian music with modern beat-making techniques), Yesterday’s New Quintet and Sound Directions: The Funky Side of Life, for just a taste of what this guy’s got up his sleeve.
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