I think on the boards he’s very good and very innovative, but also very overrated because many people who celebrate him are only aware of him entirely outside of the context of his influences and peers, who have also done lots of laudable stuff in terms of making sample-based hip-hop that’s weird, off-kilter, and palatable.

Quasimoto was a huge hurdle for me as a listener because the voice drove - no, drives - me nuts.  I’ve never felt cool about pitch shifting, from Redman’s “Rock A Fella” hook on down the line.  It sounds dumb to me.  Also Madlib really lets himself off the hook as a writer pretty much by default, so… I find him not too often super hittin’ on the mic.  I want to like it more, because the Quas beats are among my favourites of his work.

MadVillainy was basically perfect.  He got the best rhymes out of Doom since KMD, or at least since VVVV, and when you bang those beats out it isn’t hard to tell why.  They make me want to rap better, too.  I think they probably make people want to rap better who never even rapped before.