| Madlib | |
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Madlib at Stones Throw Records special, December 4, 2005 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Otis Jackson, Jr. |
| Also known as | Ahmad Miller, Beat Konducta, DJ Lord Such, DJ Rels, Duma Peterson, Eddie Prince Fusion Band, The Jahari Massamba Unit, The Jazzistics, Joe McDuphrey, Joe McDuphrey Experience, Junior Taylor, Kamala Walker and The Soul Tribe, Kay Henderson, The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble, The Loopdigga, The Malik Flavors, Monk Hughes, Monk Hughes & The Outer Realm, Morgan Adams III, Otis Jackson Jr. Trio, Quasimoto, Russel Jenkins, Sound Directions, Suntouch, Tyrone Foster, Yesterday's Universe All Stars, Yesterdays New Quintet, Young Jazz Rebels |
| Born | October 24, 1973 |
| Origin | Oxnard, California, United States |
| Genres | Hip hop, jazz, disco |
| Occupations | Musician, record producer, rapper, D.J., multi-instrumentalist |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | Stones Throw Records Madlib Invazion Antidote Records Blue Note |
| Associated acts | Madvillain, Jaylib, Lootpack, Quasimoto, Karriem Riggins, Azymuth, Kankick |
| Website | Madlib at StonesThrow.com |
Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973) in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer. Known under a plethora of pseudonyms, he is one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed hip hop producers of the 2000s and has collaborated with myriad hip hop artists, including The Alkaholiks, Mos Def, De La Soul, Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli, A.G., MF DOOM (as Madvillain), and the late J Dilla (as Jaylib). He is also the one man force behind the ensemble Jazz collective, Yesterdays New Quintet. Madlib has described himself as a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last,"[1][2] and he has done several projects as a DJ, mixer, or remixer.
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Madlib was born in Oxnard, California to musician parents Otis Jackson, Sr. and Dora Sinesca Jackson.[3] He was raised in Oxnard, and currently works in Los Angeles. He began making music with the rap group Lootpack in the early 1990s. After his father started an independent label Crate Diggas Palace (CDP) Records in 1996 to promote Madlib and his CDP crew, including younger sibling Oh No and released an EP "Ill Psyche Move," Lootpack caught the attention of Peanut Butter Wolf, founder of the Stones Throw Records label. They released two singles and a full-length album on the Stones Throw imprint in 1999. Madlib also worked with rap group Tha Alkaholiks for several albums.
Madlib's first release under the guise of Quasimoto, titled The Unseen, was in 2000. The album was met with critical acclaim and named by Spin Magazine as one of the top albums of the year. Madlib (as Quasimoto) was also named as Hip Hop Connection's Newcomer of the Year in its annual readers poll for 2000. The distinctive high-pitched voice of Lord Quas is attained by playing the original beat at a slow speed, recording the vocals over that slow speed, then speeding the vocals along with the original beat back up to its original tempo. Furthermore, some of the samples that are sped up and slowed down include Madlib's own voice (primarily) and Melvin Van Peebles recordings.
In 2001, Madlib took a turn away from traditional hip hop music, releasing his first Yesterdays New Quintet LP, Angles Without Edges. Yesterdays New Quintet is a Jazz-based, hip hop and electronic-influenced quintet made up of four alter egos or fictional musicians played by Madlib: Ahmad Miller, Monk Hughes, Malik Flavors and Joe McDuphrey; as well as Madlib under his real name, Otis Jackson Jr. Madlib has continued to record other albums under the different guises of Yesterdays New Quintet members, including 2002's tribute to Stevie Wonder, Stevie; as well as "solo" albums by the various members, such as Monk Hughes' 2004's tribute to Weldon Irvine, A Tribute to Brother Weldon, Joe McDuphrey Experience. He also created the pseudonym Sound Directions to create the YNQ-like band's "debut" album The Funky Side of Life.
The first album under the name Madlib, released in 2002, was a collection of old dub reggae tracks from Trojan Records, and was titled Blunted in the Bomb Shelter. The second, Shades of Blue was released in 2003 and is a remix of Blue Note Records.[4] This album features original Blue Note recordings, some remixed and resampled, and some replayed by Madlib, as well as rapping by M.E.D. aka Medaphoar.[4]
2003 heralded the first of two collaboration projects. Working with the late hip hop producer J Dilla, the duo known as Jaylib released Champion Sound. The other was Madlib's collaboration with hip-hop producer and rapper MF DOOM, known together as Madvillain. The 2004 Madvillainy album was highly anticipated and well-received, topping many critics' year-end lists.[5] Both albums attracted attention from the fans of J Dilla and MF DOOM.
The 2005 Quasimoto album, The Further Adventures of Lord Quas was accepted well and continued the Quasimoto tradition of using vocal samples from Melvin Van Peebles. This was followed by a YNQ album called Sound Directions: The Funky Side of Life, marking his first collaboration with session musicians.[4]
J Dilla died in February 2006, and Madlib's album of hip-hop instrumentals Beat Konducta Vol 1-2: Movie Scenes was released that March. On New Year's Eve, a digital release Liberation with Talib Kweli was made public for free download for the first week of 2007. In August 2007, Beat Konducta Vol 3-4: Beat Konducta in India was released, an instrumental hip hop album containing songs sampling the music of India.
Yesterdays Universe completed the cycle of releases by Yesterdays New Quintet and introduces a new collection of artist names created by Madlib: The Jazzistics, The Young Jazz Rebels, Suntouch, The Jahari Massamba Unit, Kamala Walker & The Soul Tribe, The Last Electro-Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble, The Yesterdays Universe All-Stars, The Otis Jackson Jr. Trio, and The Eddie Prince Fusion Band.[4] This album also would mark the first collaboration between Madlib and Brazilian jazz artist Ivan "Mamao" Conti under the band name Jackson Conti.
Percee P's first album, Perseverance, entirely produced by Madlib, was out in September 2007. Some other records are supposed to come out such as the Supreme Team album (with Karriem Riggins), as well as a solo album on BBE Records. It has been reported that Erykah Badu made some new songs over Madlib's instrumentals, and that he would work on a project with Sa-Ra. For years, rumours of Madvillainy 2 and Jaylib 2 have circulated, but no information has surfaced, besides one new Madvillain song on the Stones Throw Records compilation Chrome Children in 2006.
On October 29, 2007, Madlib made a rare public appearance on BET's Rap City, alongside collaborator Talib Kweli.[6]
Madlib produced Erykah Badu's second single from her New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) album, "The Healer". The song formally debuted on Gilles Peterson's BBC Radio show in January 2008.
In May 2008, Madlib and Ivan Conti (of the Brazilian band Azymuth) released a full album under the name "Jackson Conti", entitled Sujinho.
In September 2008, Stones Throw released a limited box set called Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix. It has remixes of the first Madvillainy album and the song Monkey Suite, originally on the Chrome Children compilation, a One Beer (Drunk Version) 7"-single, the Madvillain demo cassette, a T-shirt and a comic book.
Madlib's BBE "Beat Generation" Album WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip was released in September 2008.[7]
Madlib's third two-volume Beat Konducta album was released in early 2009. Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to... is a 42-track piece dedicated to the late J Dilla.
In 2009, he produced "In Search of Stoney Jackson", a whole album for the Los Angeles band Strong Arm Steady, which was out physically in the beginning of the following year. At the end of that year, it was said that he would start an imprit called "Madlib Medicine Show", half based on unreleased original material, half based on mixes. This project consists of one record being dropped every month for the whole year 2010, making it 12 differents records, including 6 original albums and 6 mixes.
In 2010, a collaboration with Detroit rapper Guilty Simpson, called OJ Simpson, as well as a series of original tracks and remixes being the first volume of the Madlib Medicine Show series, was out.
The beginning of this year also saw 2 other releases of his jazz imprint Yesterdays Universe, as 2 new projects, one being the band Last Electro Acoustic Space Jazz & Percussion Ensemble (which already dropped the Summer Suite and the Fall Suite before) with the record "Miles Away", and Young Jazz Rebels with the record "Slave Riot".
He also collaborated on two tracks on Erykah Badu's "New Amerykah part 2 : Return of the Ankh".
It is believed that he is currently working on the 3rd Quasimoto album, the 2nd Madvillain album with MF Doom, a project with Karriem Riggins in a Jaylib type of collaboration called Supreme Team, as well as other jazz records from the Yesterdays Universe imprit, following by his collaboration with his younger brother and fellow producer/mc Oh No forming the super duo "The Professionals"
In 2011, he collaborated with Joyce Moreno to contribute a version of the song " Banana" to the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot + Rio." Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
In 2011, Madlib produced 10 tracks for Oxnard-based rapper M.E.D's new album called Classic.
In November 2011, Madlib produced and released an EP with rapper Freddie Gibbs titled "Thuggin".
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