Meet Quasimoto, the alter ego/side project of Madlib, arguably one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time.
In the early 90s, Madlib, Wildchild & DJ Romes formed the group Lootpack. They made their first appearance on Tha Alkaholiks' 1993 debut album 21 & Over, which Madlib also provided production on. They were noticed by Peanut Butter Wolf at Stones Throw after releasing their debut EP in 1995; and eventually, would sign to the label.
Quasimoto made his debut on Peanut Butter Wolf's debut My Vinyl Weighs a Ton on the song "Styles, Crews, Flows, Beats". The origin of Quas came from Madlib's decision to rap on his own beats. He wasn't too fond of his own voice, with his friends in his hometown of Oxnard normally clowning him about how deep it was. So he decided to rap slowly to his beats, and then speed his vocals up to create Quas's high pitched voice. PBW encouraged him to release more music under the alias. Madlib followed his advice, releasing "Hittin' Hooks" and "Microphone Mathematics" later on. June 1999 saw the release of Lootpack's debut Soundpieces: Da Antidote, and the following year, Quasimoto finally released his debut The Unseen.
The Unseen serves as Quasimoto's first album, as well as Madlib's solo debut (technically). The album gives such a psychedelic vibe, featuring 24 tracks, with guest appearances from Mr. Herb, M.E.D. & fellow Lootpack member Wildchild. Quasimoto is basically Madlib's imaginary friend throughout the album and they both go through some humourous, outlandish and entertaining events; also getting high and listening to music. Quas's high pitched helium ass voice interplaying with Madlib's regular monotone voice is a common moment throughout the album, adding heavily onto the dark, druggy and psychedelic vibes we hear on it.
After the intro skit, "Welcome to Violence", the short track, "Bad Character" makes it real clear who we're really dealing with here as Quas delivers two violent and aggressive verses with his high pitched voice. "Low Class Conspiracy" is one of the best songs on the album, and a creative moment on The Unseen. Even with the beat knocking hard AF, the content is pretty interesting as Quas touches on police trying to harass him and his crew, focusing on how police deal with crime in lower class environments around America; likely leading to police brutality. "Come On Feet" is about Quasimoto trying to avoid trouble. Madlib's real voice interplays with Quas's so well, with some Melvin Van Peebles samples here and there to communicate effectively with Quas's verses, which certainly does make this track what it is. "Jazz Cats, Pt. 1" sees Madlib & Quas go back and forth naming the Jazz artists they enjoy listening to from George Benson to Dizzie Gillepsie. "Green Power" has an interesting concept, focusing on the importance of green: money & weed; and Madlib & Quas provide some solid verses.
The production is definitely something to talk about, and Madlib was an alien on the boards, with the samples, the drums, the scratches; everything! "Boom Music" bangs so hard as Madlib & Quasimoto deliver a verse each about how they love to listen to old-school hip-hop. "Bluffin'" features such a calm piano sample, where Madlib & Quas go back and forth calling out phony rappers that aren't really about what they say. "Astro Black" is such a nice song to vibe to, with the dope boom-bap beat as Quasimoto raps about getting high and trying to hit. "MHBs" is more like a smooth and soulful interlude to me, but Madlib's real voice takes over this time, rapping about watching out for gold diggers. "Axe Puzzles" also features a calm sample with Madlib putting some hard drums over it for Quas to come through with some violent and harsh lyrics. I could talk so much about how good the beats are on here, whether it was the beat switches on both the title track and "Return of the Loop Digga", the dark vibes on "Basic Instinct" or the Italian sample on "Real Eyes", but it'd be hella long.
The line up of features is small on The Unseen, but they good too. "24-7" is where Madlib & Quas links up with MED who comes through with a dope verse before the beat switches. Quas doesn't provide a verse, but does some adlibs as Madlib's actual voice takes over for a verse; and he does his thing, to be honest. MED was a little better tho. "Discipline 99" is a two-parter, about how wack MCs need to be disciplined. Mr. Herb features on Pt. 0, but does he really count as an appearance? Meh, it's whatever. Both Madlib comes with a little verse, which was alright. Quas doesn't do much tho, just a few lines. Herb seems to be another high-pitched character, and I kinda like the flow on his verse. Pt. 1 features fellow Lootpack member Wildchild, whose verse is pretty good, and complements well with Quas's verses, over the ominous but calm instrumental.
With psychedelic vibes, banging production and incredible sampling from the Loop Digga himself, The Unseen is such a dope listen. The features are decent, and the interplaying between Madlib & Quas's voices is a key moment. The range of topics are nice too, adding onto such an experience, going from aggressive lyrics on "Bad Character" or reminiscing about old school music on "Boom Music" to Madlib rapping about gold diggers over a soul sample instrumental ("MHBs"). Madlib shows he has a great ear for samples, from jazz to spoken word, or Italian music. This really could go down as one of my favourite albums ever, everything about it is so good; and even with 24 tracks, it doesn't fail to impress me.
Recommended Tracks: "Boom Music", "Low Class Conspiracy", "Astro Black", "Basic Instinct", "Real Eyes", "MHBs", "Axe Puzzles", "Return of the Loop Digga", "Microphone Mathematics", "24-7", "Jazz Cats, Pt. 1", "The Unseen", "Discipline 99, Pt. 1"
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