I've been on a Madlib kick as of recently.
The album I've listened to the most recently is Madvillain - Madvillainy have to admit that I did not like this album from the get go. DOOM was just way too slow for what I'm usually accustomed to and Madlib's production felt kind of lazy at first. However, the strange thing is even though I wasn't crazy for it, I found myself coming back to it again and again and again and again. There's just something to it that I can't explain. After so many listens I've now got a ton of appreciation for Madlib's production. It's absolutely hypnotic. DOOM still feels a bit slow at times for me, but I do have a great appreciation for him as a lyricist. Whenever I pop open Genius to read along with his raps I either laugh at his genius jokes or get absolutely flabbergasted at his webs of wordplay. Usually when people discuss this album they say it either gets with you first go or it just clicks, but for me it's a grower. I feel like I'm gonna be listening to this a lot more.
I've also been listening to Freddie Gibbs and Madlib - Pinata which I found a lot more accessible than Madvillainy. It's a great record and I have Deeper on repeat from time to time again. While it was more accessible to me than Madvillainy, it doesn't have the same colorful nature that has me hooked to Madvillainy. Madlib doesn't seem as playful on here, which makes sense due to Freddie Gibbs' more serious nature. Freddie Gibbs is a much more traditional Hip Hop lyricist than DOOM, which isn't at all a bad thing. His viewpoint on gangster culture and his ability to celebrate it while also criticizing it is absolutely riveting. I probably compare Madvillain with Freddie Gibbs & Madlib too much, but the first place I heard about Freddie Gibbs & Madlib was through TheNeedleDrop's review of Pinata where he at some point said something along the lines of "Pinata is the sequel to Madvillainy" which something I absolutely do not agree with. Tonally, they're polar opposites. It doesn't mean one's worse than the other, theyre just different y'know. I'm prolly rambling now. I still need to give Quasimoto -The Unseen a listen to, but I can't wait to.