Madlib

By Zoneil Maharaj
Photo by B+

Somewhere between John Doe and Jay-Z lies Otis Jackson Jr., a known unknown floundering amid anonymity and underground super-producer status. More widely recognized as blunted beatsmith Madlib, the producer/emcee/jazz musician doesn't concern himself with fame. Or at least, not any more.

Madlib's career aspirations when he was young were simple: "I wanted girls and money and to be known." But, over the years, his outlook has changed. "Now I don't want none of that. I just wanna do good music and make a little living."

To escape the limelight he creates alter egos, making it hard - and confusing - to keep track of his work. Some of the other names people know him by are: Quasimoto, Sound Directions, Beat Konducta, DJ Rels or Yesterday's New Quintet (consisting of Joe McDuphrey, Ahmad Miller, Monk Hughes, Malik Flavors and Otis Jackson Jr., all of whom are fictitious characters portrayed on wax by Madlib).

This month, after several YNQ releases, the group will dissolve to make way for ten new imaginary groups on Yesterday's Universe, a compilation of all of YNQ's side projects and off-shoots, further delving into Madlib's warped mind. Over the next year, he'll release full-length albums for each group.

Aside from these jazz projects, Madlib has got a ton of other work keeping him busy: a Madlib solo album, a follow-up to Madlib and Talib Kweli's Liberation, a new Madvillain album, a new Quasimoto album, as well as production for upcoming releases by Percee P, MED and Erykah Badu. Don't expect a tour anytime soon.
"Touring is last for me. Even though there's more money in touring, I like making the records. And I got a lot of work on my calendar that I gotta finish," Madlib says, listing his various projects while nonchalantly slipping in fantasy pairings that will never be, such as a Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer album, which he'd call "Hammanilla." "I'm a dude that stays in the background. I'm a shy ass dude...I ain't really into standing in front of people and being in the spotlight. That's why I produce more than anything, but I'm still just getting all this right."

He releases projects under various pseudonyms "to keep it fresh, so it's not Madlib, Madlib, Madlib on everything, because I do so much shit," he says. "You drown yourself. You gotta flip it up, trick people, keep it fresh, keep it going." Though it doesn't take long for the press to expose his true identity, he continues to operate under aliases because, he says, "It's a different project, different day, different story and different concept."

At times, he's chopping and layering samples and loops in schizophrenic 60-second spurts, as seen on The Unseen and The Further Adventures of Lord Quas under his helium-voiced Quasimoto moniker, a drug-induced persona not meant for public consumption. Peanut Butter Wolf, CEO of Stones Throw Records, came across the Quasimoto tracks and forced him to put them out. The quirky, chain-smoking, aardvarkish cartoon character is now one of Madlib's most acclaimed projects.
"I don't advise this for anybody, but I was on some shrooms, buggin' out," Madlib says, his baritone voice vibrating over the phone. "I had a gang of beats with no emcees around so I was like 'Fuck it, let me try to do something different.' At the time, I thought I was rapping like Barry White. I didn't like my voice so I was trying to flip my shit up and trick people. It worked...for a little bit."

In other instances, Madlib will be meticulously composing an entire jazz band's work single-handedly by playing all the instruments himself, as with YNQ and its various off-shoots featured on Yesterday's Universe.

"I'm just a dude who gets bored real quick. I'm the type of dude who will make a beat in five minutes and be done with it," Madlib says. "A lot of these dudes spend three days on one beat, tweaking the snare. I ain't got time for that. No disrespect to that, but I'm on some other shit. I'm more on the feeling and not all that technical shit. Just the feeling. And if it's right, it's right. If it's wrong, it's wrong."

Madlib's personality, unlike his production, is calm and laid-back, his responses quick and concise. On his approach to production, he says, "I don't approach it. I don't know how to explain it. I just sit down and whatever happens, happens. Whether it's jazz or hip-hop, whatever. It's not like I sit there and say, 'I got to do this.' I just do whatever happens, however I feel. One minute I'm making a jazz song, maybe ten minutes later I wanna do some hip-hop. I'm quick with it."

Madlib grew up in a musical family. Aside from living in a household where jazz records were played 24/7, his father, Otis Jackson Sr., was a soul singer; his mother, Sinesca Jackson, wrote his father's music; his uncle, trumpeter John Faddis, played with Dizzy Gillespie. Now his little brother, Oh No, is also an acclaimed emcee/producer on Stones Throw. Madlib's father would take him into the studio often, letting the future producer sit on his lap and mess with the mixing boards. This was Madlib's entry into the music world. But despite this musical history, his experimentation with live instruments didn't come until after he became an established hip-hop producer.

In the early '80s, Madlib got into hip-hop after hearing Marley Marl and 45 King. By the late '80s, he was making beats and rapping with his sister; his brother still has the tapes. While today's technology makes it possible for any kid with a computer to produce, record and distribute amateur forays into music overnight without taking the time to discipline and hone their craft, Madlib spent 10 years perfecting his sound before being noticed. It wasn't until 1993, at the age of 20, that his career started to take shape.

"I was doing it all through high school, thinking I was gonna do my thing, but nothing happened," he says. "And I'm glad nothing happened because my shit was kinda whack back then."

Compared to the onslaught of records he currently puts out, Madlib's career moved slowly at first. He formed the Lootpack with emcee Wildchild and DJ Romes in high school. Their demo caught the attention of West Coast pioneer King Tee, who hooked them up with Tha Alkaholiks. This meeting led to their appearance on Tha Alkaholiks' 1993 debut, 21 and Over, which featured production from Madlib, including the single "Mary Jane." With that, they were inducted into the Likwit Crew, appearing and working on future releases from Tha Alkaholiks. An independently released Lootpack 12-inch would eventually lead them to Peanut Butter Wolf, who signed them to his Stones Throw Records, resulting in 1999's Soundpieces: Da Antidote.

It wasn't until after Quasimoto's The Unseen the following year that Madlib devoted an entire year to learning how to play jazz. The earlier YNQ jazz records only hinted at what he was capable of.

"The shit ya'll heard before was me first starting. I barely started trying to play instruments, so you just saw the progress," Madlib says. "Now, this is what you get. Even though I have the old style too, right now, this is where I'm at."

Where he's at, for the most part, is locked in his studio and trapped in his own musical world. He doesn't even keep track of his own release dates. "I don't know none of that shit. I just do music and by the time that shit comes out, I can't listen to it anymore," he says.

Though Madlib is best known for his collaborations, he's a bit of a recluse. With the exception of the Madvillain (with MF Doom) and Supreme Team (a current collaboration with Karriem Riggins) projects, Madlib rarely works in the studio with another artist. Instead, he sends pre-mixed beats. Collaborators take it as is, or leave it.
"Ain't no taking anything out. I ain't letting no engineer fuck my shit up," Madlib says. "When you get the beat, the shit is mixed. You gotta two-track that motherfucker. Just like me and Dilla did, just like Busta Rhymes did, just like Talib Kweli did. I ain't trying to hear nobody complaining after these fools done did it."

One of Madlib's current collaborations includes a tribute album with legendary East Coast producer Pete Rock for the late J. Dilla - an underground super-producer whose career was cut short due to cancer, and is best known for his work with Slum Village and for his cult-status instrumental album, Donuts. Dilla was Madlib's "musical cousin," a good friend with whom he often traded beats. Their relationship culminated with the release of 2003's Champion Sound under the Jaylib moniker. The classic album was re-released as a deluxe double-disc edition in June. Dilla was a big influence on Madlib and vice versa.

"There ain't nobody in hip-hop that he ain't influencing. He's like the Coltrane of hip-hop," Madlib says. "A lot of motherfuckers are biting; they're not getting from it, they're just taking. The real motherfuckers are getting something from that, not just emulating it. If somebody's using claps, you know they're influenced by Dilla."

"From hearing all his shit, ain't nobody impressing me right now because I heard everything," Madlib says. "I'm waiting for someone to impress me with their own shit. And since Dilla, it ain't popped off."

So what does it take to impress Madlib? "Do your own thing, but funky. Just how Dilla had his thing, have your thing - shit I haven't heard yet," he says. "It's gotta be soulful, like you feel it without you saying anything. It's the main thing you gotta have: soul."
Though Madlib may never reach superstardom, it doesn't bother him much.

"I'm good with being where I'm at right now. If shit gets bigger, coo. But I'm just trying to make a living and do the music I like," says the mature emcee who stays perpetually in the studio, far removed from the hip-hop hype. "Once you get into all that other shit, I don't think you're going to be doing the music you like. But whatever, whatever God says, or the Devil - whoever's running this mothafucka."

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