Madlib Says Today's Music Should Sound More Like Public Enemy, "But It’s Just Not There"

BYCole Blake2.5K Views
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Madlib, Sound Ancestors
Madlib says that music nowadays "should be like Public Enemy," and "how it was in the earlier days."

Legendary producer Madlib, who released his new album, Sound Ancestors, on Friday, says he wishes more modern rap music was closer in style to Pubic Enemy and that today's music "is telling you bad things to do."

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“Rap music right now should be like Public Enemy stuff, but it’s just not there,” Madlib told Guardian, Saturday. “I wish it was more like how it was in the earlier days when I was coming up. My influences. Real music. Music can teach you … things not to do.”

He added: “Most of the music today is telling you bad things to do. My type of hip-hop can help you grow up.”

While promoting his new music, Madlib also discussed the passing of MF DOOM. He recently admitted to NPR Music's Piotr Orlov that he learned about the Madvilliany rapper's death at the same time as everyone else: “I found out when everybody else did, on social media. His family's very private, so they probably didn’t know how to approach that one. I still can’t believe that he died. That’s weird.”

Sound Ancestors sees Madlib teaming up with Four Tet for yet another collaborative project. Check out the new album here.

[Via]


About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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