MED / Blu / Madlib – Bad Neighbor – 2x LP Vinyl

With 100% beats by Madlib, Bad Neighbor is the brainchild of MEDa cornerstone in Stones Throws history — and Bluthe voice behind modern classics like Below the Heavens — who instantly clicked a decade earlier on tour with Emanon. The album is an exclamation point on the idea that began with The Burgundy EP, expanded to include Dam Funk and Mayer Hawthorne on The Buzz EP, and continued until contributions from Anderson.Paak (Dr. Dres Compton), Hodgy Beats (Odd Future), and the one-and-only MF DOOM made Bad Neighbor ready to launch.

But Bad Neighbor isnt the first time MED and Madlibs orbits have collided. A fellow head from the fertile crescent of Oxnard, CA, MED not only guested on the now-classic Soundpieces by Lootpack in 99, he also dropped into Madvillains Raid (Madvillainy, 2004) and made his mark on Quasimotos Unseen (2000), not to mention making the sole MC appearance on Madlibs acclaimed Shades of Blue. Madlib, in turn, provided the lions share of production on MEDs Classic and Push Comes to Shove alongside J Dilla and Oh No. Meanwhile Blu, besides earning HipHopDXs Rookie of the Year bona fides, put LA back on the map alongside Exile (Below the Heavens, Give Me My Flowers) and as a self-produced solo artist (Her Favorite Colour, Jesus, York!, Good to Be Home).

Bad Neighbor, although hazy, heavy, and blunted under the influence of Madlibs aesthetic backbone, floats effortlessly above the smoke by virtue of MED and Blus sometimes topical, sometimes acrobatic, and always on-point interplay. The album is undoubtedly an extension of all three artists signature sounds, but it simultaneously defies all precedents to reaffirm each individuals position at the forefront of LAs legendary hip-hop landscape.

A1 Greetings
A2 Serving
A3 Peroxide
A4 Get Money
B1 Streets
B2 The Stroll
B3 Knock Knock
B4 Mad Neighbor
C1 The Strip
C2 Finer Things
C3 Burgundy Whip
D1 Drive In
D2 Belly Full
D3 Birds
D4 The Buzz