Micro-Chopping Madlib
Madlib’s music making philosophy has always been simple: use your mind and your imagination and the results will follow. “Anybody could do a beat, you just got to use your brain,” he told Red Bull Music Academy in 2002 interview.
In the same interview he revealed his use of the SP-303 for the bulk of his rap production. “It’s just real simple — that’s one of the main reasons I like that little thing. You sample the beat with the effect on it and then go to the next one,” he told Remix Magazine in 2005.
Though his co-singing of the 303 was a major moment in SP-303 and 404 beatmaking subculture, the multi-instrumentalist producer doesn’t fetishize gear or specific sampling methods. Even though he owns four tons of records, he encourages people to use anything they can get their hands on to make music. “Take shit off cassette, VCR, iTunes, anything,” he said while explaining his sampling process to Wax Poetics. “Some water dripping, it don’t matter.”
This resourcefulness is evident throughout Madlib’s vast catalog. He made “Strange Ways” and “Rhinestone Cowboy” for the Madvillainy album with a SP-303 and a tape deck, taught himself how to play every single instrument on the Yesterday’s New Quintet projects, and pitched up his own voice to create three successful albums with a crazy alter ego named Quasimoto.
If that wasn’t enough, he also created a beautiful album of intricate Blue Note Records remixes and made “No More Parties In LA” for Kanye West with an iPad. And we’re only scraping the surface of his collaborations, guest production, side projects, and solo releases.
But despite 20-plus years of nonstop output, it seems like Madlib isn’t even close to tapping out his creative resources. “I shut off from the world. It’s just something you can’t try to do. It’s just something that happens,” he said while describing his deep concentration while recording to RBMA’s Jeff “Chairman” Mao.
While this is great news for fans, Madlib is honest and open about the flip side of being a creative genius. “That’s my life. It’s a blessing and a curse because my time is spent doing that, but I also have a family and things,” he said.
Although it sounds like he’s still working on balancing his creative and personal life, Madlib has gifted us with an unbelievable wealth of music to enjoy while he figures it all out. Here is a sampling of his incredible body of work, from his earliest beats to his more recent work with Anderson .Paak and Kanye West.
Connect with Madlib on Facebook, the Stones Throw website, and on Twitter @madlib.
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