Madvillain "Madvillainy" (2004)

If you're wondering where the line is between commercial viability and experimentation, it's here.  This is the collaboration between two outre musicians blending their warped sensibilities into one woozy vision of supervillains blunts and crimes.  It is as much a commentary on the gangsta ethos of hip hop as anything else, a fact which seems to have been forgotten by the larger community.  It's a shame, as this record shows a way out of the lowest common denominator trap that has become so prevalent.

Ghostface Killah "Fishscale" (2006)

By the first decade of the new millennium, there had been enough history to speak of backwards looking hip hop.  That's what we have with Fishscale.  It's classicist, in that it sounds like it could have come from virtually any period of hip hop's history.  If you're looking for hiphop that is clearly indebted to the 70s pulp literature of Goines or Iceberg Slim, look no further.

The Coup "Pick a Bigger Weapon" (2006)

If I challenged you to put together a Bay Area hip hop group, what would they sound like?  PFunk beats?  Very political lyrics?  Hey, you just described the Coup!

And on Pick a Bigger Weapon, they do what they do.  Much like Public Enemy in earlier decades, you either dig that or you don't.

Mike Ladd "Welcome to the Afterfuture" (2000)

How does someone like Mike Ladd fit into our narrative about hip hop?  He's from the Bronx.  But his music seems to be as influenced by high art as low.  This album is more concerned with dystopian visions of the future than with normal thematic elements of hip hop.  It's a bit uneven, but when it works it is absolutely phenomenal.  There's an alternate universe where this sort of intelligent daring music won the commercial battles and people like Jay Z are the oddities.

Madlib "Shades of Blue" (2003)

So Madlib was given a dream gig for many producers:  access to the Blue Note vault, and authorization to sample and mix as much as he wanted.  The result is probably the best jazz/hip hop hybrid album ever released.

Aceyalone "All Balls Don't Bounce" (1995)

This record reminds me of classic hiphop in so many ways.  There's the obvious musical ways.  But there's also the fact that this album is carried by a couple of great tracks, with the rest being totally forgettable.  The good stuff really is that good, however.

Diplo & Santogold "Top Ranking" (2008)

I never would have thought, way back when, that bootie bass would ever become popular.  Here we have a mixtape of the stuff.  It's not for me.

Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins "Clutch of the Tiger" (2008)

This is the soundtrack to a modern blaxploitation movie that was never made.  Funky, slinky instrumentals that change but somehow are all of a piece.  It's intriguing stuff, but somehow never fully essential.

Jean Grae "Jeanius" (2008)

There's a parallel universe where Jean Grae is a big star.  She's seen as the leading female MC and is brought in to add intelligence to R&B tracks.  Unfortunately in the universe we're living in, she's mostly overlooked and ignored.  I don't know all the details, but she sounds like a likely victim of the dodgy nature of the music industry.  A record in the tank, that's not released for several years....  Grae is a throwback in that her emphasis is on technique and intelligence.  While the album itself fails to live up to its potential, she's certainly a talent to watch.

Q-Tip "The Renaissance" (2008)

For listeners of a certain age, Q-Tip probably did more than any one figure to popularize hip-hop.  The Renaissance is his first release of this millennium.  Unfortunately, I find it too steeped in R&B.  Listeners with different tastes may love this album.  For me, there's too much contemporary crooning.  *sigh*  Maybe next time.

Madlib "Medicine Show vol 1: Before the Verdict" (2010)

The first volume of Madlib's "Medicine Show" series is a bit schizophrenic.  It comes across as more of an odds & sods project, with guest vocalist Guilty Simpson being the unifying factor.  That in & of itself is a weakness, at least for me, as I am not much of a GS fan.  In theory, the tension between his dead serious, street level rhymes, & Madlib's playful intellectualism should be intriguing.  In practice, Madlib seems pulled down.  When working with more talented collaborators he steps his game up.  Here, he feels too much like he's going through the motions.

Madlib "Beat Kondukta vol 5 & 6" (2009)

This album cover is so representative of Madlib's sound.  A degrading imagine, strong at first impression, that slowly slips away as you come closer to grabbing it.  Brilliant.

As I listened to this album I kept thinking about how Madlib seems to be underappreciated.  Oh sure, there's a sense that critically he's seen as a talented guy, but there's really only a small cult of Madlib heads who really seem to value his music.  Why is a band like Radiohead seen as perhaps the dominant musical voice of our time?  What do they offer that he doesn't?  My initial reaction is that residual rockism is the answer.  They're seen as musicians, while he's seen as some sort of DJ/producer figure.

This entry in the Beat Konducta series is Madlib's tribute to his good friend & collaborator, J Dilla.  It's an information rich instrumental sound collage.  Highly recommended.

Beastie Boys "Hot Sauce Committee, Pt 2" (2011)

Does it really matter *when* a Beastie Boys album was released?  They seem to exist in their own temporal continuum.  While seemingly not a part of the hip hop dialogue, they always seem to sound both cutting edge and retro.

"Hot Sauce" isn't a game changer the way that "Paul's Boutique" or "Check Your Head" were, but it's still a great album.