When The Unseen was released in 2000 as the solo debut from Lootpack MC/producer Madlib, no one could have known that it would be just the first album in an arm's-length discography that would cover everything from live jazz to Doom and Dilla collaborations, mostly to gushing critical acclaim. At the time, it was simply a quirky leftfield hip-hop record by a guy who burned grass like a wildfire and lived in Peanut Butter Wolf's basement-- like literally lived in the basement studio known as the Bomb Shelter. No one knew that Madlib preferred the solitude of the studio to pretty much anything else and that records flowed from his mind and sampler at a dizzying pace. Now, thanks to endless profiles and album reviews, we know, and it makes The Unseen even more interesting.
What once seemed a crafty producer's gimmick now sounds more like the imaginary friend of a shy dude who needed someone to talk to in the studio while he chain-smoked blunts. Reefer Madness? Probably, but wildly entertaining, as well, imagining Madlib sitting in a basement making songs all day everyday and getting so bored with himself that he finds a way to put a pig-nosed yellow hippo on record. And most of what he says under that persona is crazy shit, outlandish, hilarious fiction. Exactly what everyone stands around thinking about when he's got a helium balloon pinched in his fingers is what comes out of Lord Quas' mouth. We all know profanity is crass, violence a nuisance, and misogyny quite boring, but dude, his voice sounds funny when he says it. Whether it's the grandiose self-shout-outs, ludicrous threats, or adolescent come-ons, Quas is Webster with pimp juice while Madlib leans on the wall, mumbling affirmations and encouragement, and if you want to justify the content to your stuffy friends just tell them the pitch-shifted vocals are Madlib's commentary on the mental immaturity and irresponsibility of typical hip-hop subject matter.
Of course, the main attraction of any Madlib record is his production, and The Unseen holds up particularly well because Madlib hasn't changed this particular strain of his beatmaking all that much. Instead of tinkering with his style, he creates a new one. When he wanted to do some live jazz, he did Yesterday's New Quintet. Street bangers went to the Jaylib album. Pop remixes, reggae mixtapes, instrumental 12"s, nothing stays on paper with Madlib. So anyone who slobbered over Madvillainy or The Further Adventures of Lord Quas won't be disappointed by the now five-year-old production, nor should they skip Lootpack's Soundpieces or MED's Push Comes to Shove. If anything, The Unseen is a better "album" than Further Adventures because the compositions are more fleshed-out, more cohesive and, well, more. Madlib has a short attention span, but he kept most of the songs to almost three minutes here without much junk. The jazz and soul samples are as obscure and well-selected as ever, with Madlib's particular style of chopping a drum sample keeping the beat from becoming a bore. The skits and interludes play to the mood, and the seamless transitions, which usually include a bonus beat or two, echo the give 'em more of DJ Premier of Gang Starr.
I can't say for sure why The Unseen is being re-released, other than Madlib didn't a have another record ready this month. It's a nice treat for the Serato kids to have the full instrumentals on one CD, which is included. And if there's anything to be learned from George Lucas, it's that trusting the public to remember how awesome you are is a fool's paradise. Legacies are constructed, and with the new Quasimoto album still on the New Release wall, it doesn't hurt Madlib or Stones Throw to jog some memories. I'm sure Quas would say, "Buy my shit, or I'll cut your head off and smoke green out your socketholes," or something to that effect.
