Today we will prepare a solid foundation on which to build in the future. Madlib and J Dilla are the biggest of the hip hop legends. Two producers, each from the opposite side of the USA; both artists have already put together uncountable numbers of projects, which we will talk about in the future in our Album of the Week section. This whole little paragraph might have raised a question: “What would happen if these two geniuses worked together on one project?” Well, here is your answer: the duo Jaylib and their album Champion Sound.
Runway
Before we dive into the album itself, let’s investigate the history book and find out how the whole project was put together. Madlib got his hands on some amazing beats from J Dilla back in the year 2000 and, just for his own entertainment, started rapping into them. He named the records Jaylib and did not have any intentions to ever release them. Label Stones Throw Records (producer/rapper was signed under this label in between the years 1999 and 2009) put one of the records on a B-Side of 12-inch vinyl with Madlib’s new record. His hands on this song got a magician from Detroit, J Dilla, who got immediately in touch with Madlib, and the cooperation of two giants could have begun. The whole project was quite simple, with half of the beats being taken care of by J Dilla while Madlib was rapping and the other half being the other way around. The funny part is that while working on an album, the artists never met; each of them worked from their own city, and then they sent their work to each other.
From Oxnard to Detroit
Madlib is a producer and rapper from Oxnard, California, where he was born and raised. During his many years on the scene, the artist used many pseudonyms; he went from Quasimoto to Yesterdays New Quintet to DJ Rels, Beat Konducta, and The Loop Digga. The artist is also a member of Likwit Crew, Lootpack, MadGibbs Madvillain, and Jaylib. We would like to dedicate this chapter of our article to the part of the album where Madlib sat behind the production pult and delivered beats for J Dilla. We will describe a few of Madlib’s fingerprints, which we can find again and again in his works over the years.
Tracks produced by Madlib are McNasty Filth, Champion Sound, Heavy, The Official, The Mission, Strapped, Survival Test, No Games, and Intro L.A. to Detroit, which has been co-produced by Jay Deem. We would like to pull apart the beat for The Official, which starts with a spoken intro that has been edited in postproduction (Madlib tends to use samples from cartoons where the voices are already edited), which gives the whole track a very original atmosphere. Beat has Madlib’s typical high-pitched trumpets and soft guitar in the background. The beat also has a bridge, where there is only one word (official) repeated again and again, which is another ingredient from the producer’s repertoire.
From Detroit to Oxnard
The second half of the album is produced by an already deceased talent from Detroit, J Dilla. Jay Dee (even though his career was very short) built himself up as one of the best and most influential hip-hop producers of all times, and we will definitely be writing about his magnum opus Donuts in the future. Member of the Slum Village changed Hip Hop beats forever, and there is a reason why this artist was called the “best drummer in the world by rapper Questlove.”
Let’s focus on the track The Heist, whose beat is J Dilla at his best. Electronic drums, deep bases, and breaks are sounds heard in Dilla’s productions on a regular basis. Madlib’s edited voice fits perfectly into the beat, and together with very original ad-libs and their unique usage, it creates an original, personal, and atmospheric song.
Landing
From Oxnard to Detroit and back from Detroit to Oxnard flew not just the best productions but also perfect vocals, two ingredients lining themselves in between the best work of the best rappers, and let’s not forget about the fact that both artists are mostly producers. The album Champion Sound is our starting point for the work of two giants that do not have any comparison in rap history.
Translated from Czech by Rado.
