Madlib

Madlib has amazed hip-hop fans with his seemingly infinite supply of musical influences and an even more prolific number of releases and aliases. But whether he’s diving into jazz, soul and Blaxploitation films, or digging into Brazilian, Indian and African tunes, the result is consistently imaginative and off the beaten path, challenging rappers and listeners alike to broaden their horizons. Born in Oxnard, California, to a pair of musician parents, he formed the group Lootpack in 1992 and landed a few production credits with Tha Alkaholiks before signing with Stones Throw, the indie label founded by DJ Peanut Butter Wolf. He’d release albums under various monikers afterward—the cartoonish-voiced rapper Quasimoto, the fictional jazz band Yesterdays New Quintet—but his career reached new heights in the early 2000s. In 2003, he collaborated with fellow producer-rapper J Dilla to create the album Champion Sound, and the following year he connected with MF DOOM to craft Madvillainy, an unconventional rap masterpiece. From there, Madlib showed that whatever path he’d take, listeners would follow—whether it’s through more than a dozen instrumental albums, his collaborative work with rappers like Freddie Gibbs and Guilty Simpson, or his records with drummer Karriem Riggins as the duo Jahari Massamba Unit. Getting into Madlib’s deep discography is like spinning a globe and stopping it with your finger: wherever you land, an adventure is guaranteed.