bad neighbor
Chances are, unless you’re the type of rap fan who cringes at Tyga songs and has a Madvillainy vinyl prominently placed on your bedroom wall, you probably don’t know Madlib, M.E.D. or Blu. If so, welcome to the world of underground hip-hop, where the three Southern California-based artists teamed up on Bad Neighbor, the collective’s first project.
Running over 51 minutes, Bad Neighbor encompasses 15 Madlib-produced tracks. It begins with “Greetings,” which sounds more like an introduction for a concert than a song, as a hype man builds up the prowess of the coming act. The man declares, “If y’all know the words to the record, just sing along.” Those who would be at a show featuring Madlib, M.E.D. and Blu are hardcore hip-hop heads, fiends for funky rhythm who know M.E.D. and Blu songs as well as the rappers themselves. This project is for those fans, the ones already planning to recite lyrics before the hype man requested their assistance.
In today’s rap production universe featuring the same chord progression and bumping bass on every hit, it’s Madlib and his brilliantly abstract beats that steal the show. On “Serving,” Madlib’s creation channels a sort of early Neptunes nostalgia. Equally impressive is Madlib’s work on “Drive In,” where the track’s final minute or so plays as an instrumental that sounds as if the ghost of J Dilla’s Donuts were behind it. Likewise, a rapper featured on the song “Finer Things” sums up the effect Madlib has on anything he touches: “It sound royal when you let Madlib design sound for you.”
M.E.D. and Blu play the role of the main lyricists, complementing each other’s gritty flows. M.E.D. drops his nicest line of the album on “Peroxide”: “Now we pick the finest cotton off the racks.” In that single line, M.E.D. is able to recall America’s most embarrassing period, slavery, and brag about his rap-game profits. Blu’s multisyllabic rhyme scheme shines through on “Get Money”: “Fine lady got with Don daily/ Miss Daisy, you can drive me out of my mind daily.” I’m a sucker for movie references, especially anything with Morgan Freeman, and if Blu accompanied this one with a line about Shawshank, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to handle myself. However, while both M.E.D. and Blu are wonderful individually, they never come together to create the track that cements them as a dynamic duo. Instead, they’re more just two dope rappers who happen to be on an entire album together.
Bad Neighbor has three standout tracks: “Get Money,” “Knock Knock” and “The Strip.” “Get Money” is a head-bobbing record to a T, with a beat sounding like something Mobb Deep could’ve went off on in the late ’90s and a stuck-in-your-head-type chorus: “It goes, ring-ring, ring-ring my money ring/ Ching-ching-cha-ching money machine.” “Knock Knock” features frequent Madlib collaborator and hip-hop underground royalty MF Doom. It’s a classic Doom sound, using a zany Madlib beat to describe a scene where he lets himself into his cousin’s home and goes through everything from his shoes to his DVD copy of Scandal. The album could benefit from more Doom features, as the out-of-the-box lyrics perfectly match Madlib’s out-of-this-world production. Lastly, “The Strip” has the most potential for mainstream success, or for your friends to not say, “What the f— is this?” on the first play. The track is the epitome of smooth, including a perfectly used Anderson .Paak feature as the singer’s melodic voice declares, “Shining! I did it for the strip.” It’s meant to be played with the windows rolled down while the listeners belt Paak’s lyrics and a cool breeze circulates throughout the car. One thing to note is that these three tracks all have features, including a Frank Nitt verse on “Get Money.” M.E.D. and Blu are both outstanding emcees, but it seems they need that little extra boost to bring the best out of a Bad Neighbor track.
Bad Neighbor certainly won’t be receiving much play on the popular morning hip-hop shows, but it’s still worth a listen to provide insight into what goes on outside the realm of mainstream rap. While M.E.D. and Blu’s partnership doesn’t produce the force to make the album excellent, Bad Neighbor is still a Madlib-produced album, and that in itself makes it worthy of anyone’s attention.
