Madlib
Medicine Show No. 11 Low Budget High Fi Music
(Madlib Medicine Show)

With collaborations from a host of Stones Throw emcees, like Oh No, M.E.D., Guilty Simpson, J Rocc and Strong Arm Steady, the “Madlib Medicine Show” returns in the form of a 28-track eclectic-as-hell mix of hip-hop samplings.

Known mainly for his prolific production skills, the Cali producer, otherwise known as Otis Jackson Jr. (amongst others, Quasimoto and the Beat Konducta), has worked with the late J Dilla (Jaylib), MF DOOM (Madvillan), Erykah Badu, De La Soul, Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Even with the multi-instrumentalist’s beats and breaks, Low Budget High Fi has more of a mixtape feel than a cohesive album per se. Not that that’s a bad thing, but thematically it makes you wonder where the hell is all of this going? Then again, that is the idiosyncratic beauty of Madlib.

Standout joints are mainly the Loop Digga instrumentals (a total of 13); otherwise a handful of others are worth a few spins: “O.G. Pt. 1 and 2,” “Stageridin’,” and “Cheaters.”