Madlib's new one on BBE!

The new Madlib LP, WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip drops today on the BBE/Rapster imprint as part of their Beat Generation series, which has also featured contributions by Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock and the late and sadly missed J Dilla aka Jay Dee. My introduction to Madlib came via his visionary album The Unseen, under his Quasimoto alter ego, in the spring of 2000. This record blew my mind as it is a carefully woven sonic tapestry built out of blaxploitation movie dialog, sampled grooves and beats, and Madlib’s sped up voice as the impish Quasimoto, a creature of no given species but gifted with an optimum amount of sly, dry wisdom. However, Madlib had been around for quite a few years before that, as part of the group Lootpack, and had added production and remix touches to tracks by fellow Californian (he hails from Oxnard) rappers like Tha Alkaholiks and Zion I.

This new long player is a similarly entertaining weave of spoken word samples, funky, funky beats courtesy of Madlib in his Beat Konducata guise, augmented by raps from gifted rhymers like the very entertaining Guilty Simpson — who delivers the killer line, “I’m so hot I need a fan and you’re so not you need a fan, your beat’s so whack you need a band, naw in fact you need a hand, that claps at you…” — Defari, Murs, Frank n Dank and Madlib himself (sounding like a sped up Quasimoto, of course). However, my favorite track is the blunted r&b of “Yo Yo Affair Part 1 & 2,” which features drowned rhodes textures and the languid vocalizing of a young lady named Frezna. It comes across like Detroit chanteuse Davina colliding with that other motor city legend, J Dilla. I might have to cop the wax just for this cut alone.

Other high points include a very short track called “Life” featuring drummer Karriem Riggins and a little beat juggled mini, megamix courtesy of J Rocc of the amazing Beat Junkies, the LA dj crew renowned for their flawless ability to mix, cut and juggle a hypnotic hip-hop blend that sets butts and minds in motion. Honestly I’d forgotten how good hip hop can still be, as I dj the commercial side of the genre a lot. Top 40 rap no longer features the sampling creativity of past masters like Premier and Pete Rock, and everything is recorded so far into the red that the sound is overbearing. In the endless search for the beat that works the club the funk has been lost, and someone stole the soul, whom I don’t know for sure, I fear it was a conspiracy orchestrated from above. The conspiracy also has dumbed down lyrics and flow as prerequisites. 

Madlib puts some of that lost element back in and guides the genre onto the street and away from the catwalks, Bentleys and stupid dances about superman and dried ejaculate.. Now I remember why I love hip-hop so much, why Mantronix, Run DMC, EPMD, Three Feet High and Rising, Schoolly D and Tribe tripped out a bunch of Irish hooligans bombarded by rain from above, and resin from the Netherlands. Yeah, I just about remember.

Orr