QUASIMOTO- The alter ego of Madlib

Yes, I need to feed you some mp3s, and no, I don’t have time to write a big long post. That’s when I reach into the hip hop cabinet and pull out some 21st Century vintage. Sure, this underground stuff might have a better flavor when you know more information about it - the vineyards, the process, yadda yadda… But I’m a little too white to give you that.

Quasimoto is the martian-voiced alter ego of Madlib, a guy who’s got his finger in so many pies he’s a one-man music machine. Stones Throw Records brought this guy to my attention (if you dig him, click that link; they’ve got tons of cool videos and more mp3s for download). Lord Quas has some connection with Melvin Van Peebles, and you can hear Mr. Peebles’s vocals all over the last album. Madlib is also a member of the strange combo Yesterdays New Quintet, a mellow fusion of hip hip instrumentation and spacey free jazz. Anyway, no one can convey the beauty of getting baked and digging through old records like this qwazy cat. It’s a vernacular even I can understand, and I haven’t smoked weed in 16 years.

Quasimoto - “Bus Ride”

Quasimoto - “Microphone Mathematics (Remix)”

Yesterdays New Quintet - “I Am Singing”

The quicktime movie below is Madlib’s delightful two-minute history of rap.

Quasimoto/Madlib - “Rappcats pt.3″ (.MOV file, 11.6 MB)

by Toe Stubber