Madlib - Medicine Show No. 5: History of the Loop Digga: 1990-2000 (2010) [24bit FLAC]

Back in the 90s, “beat tapes” were literally that: cassette tapes of beats that a producer made either for himself, friends, or potential collaborators. Madlib made a bunch of them in the days between his early productions for the Alkaholiks (circa ’92) and the release of his Quasimoto album (2000), after which he took a couple of years off of the beats to focus on making jazz music before beginning a new era of hip-hop with Madvillain, Jaylib and Beat Konducta.

This collection of beats showcases the way that Madlib’s early hip-hop demos were filtered out to his crew of friends and associates, providing an opportunity for a unique view into Madlib’s working process. These beats, often freestyled on SP1200 or whatever machine he had at the ready, were picked up by rappers over a period of many years. Trainspotters will find it interesting that beats later destined for the likes of Wildchild and Percee P were made some years before those albums saw release.

This album is punctuated with a series of early solo-raps by Madlib and his Quasimoto alter ego and features the crew known collectively as CDP – those rappers who worked side by side with Madlib during the days of his Oxnard CA-based “Crate Diggas Palace” studios. The Madlib Medicine Show series is a combination of Madlib's new hip-hop productions, remixes, beat tapes and jazz, as well as mixtapes of funk, soul, Brazilian, psych, jazz and other undefined forms of music.