The Unseen (album)
Encyclopedia
The Unseen is the debut album by Quasimoto
, an alter ego
of producer Madlib
.
mushroom binge.
Upon its release in 2000, it received much praise from underground heads and from mainstream media, making it onto Spin Magazine's top albums of the year list.
It was re-released in 2005 as a Deluxe Edition with a bonus CD containing the instrumental version of the album.
once did." -Dan Stacey
Rhapsody (online music service)
ranked the album #7 on its "Hip-Hop’s Best Albums of the Decade" list. "Madlib and alter ego Quasimoto take a weird, tangential and nuanced journey through the day in the life of a blunted b-boy. The production revisits Prince Paul's sampledelica, while Id surrogate Quas raps about hos and blunts. This is what happens when hip-hop's tightly wound world collides with psych's expansive inner-space. In a word: classic."
musicians and record labels who have influenced him. They are, in order:
Sun Ra
, George Benson
, Hampton Hawes
, Steve Kuhn
, George Cables
, Cedar Walton
, Herbie Hancock
, Gene Harris
, Three Sounds, Bobby Hutcherson
, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver
, Bill Evans
, Terry Gibbs
, Gary Burton
, Donald Byrd
, George Duke
, Lee Morgan
, Shirley Scott
, Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith
, Gene Russell
, Art Ensemble of Chicago
, Michael White
, Cal Tjader
, Weather Report
, Max Roach
, Freddie Hubbard
, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris
, Milt Jackson
, Ron Carter
, Rahsaan Roland Kirk
, William Fisher
, John Coltrane
, Gary Bartz
, Kool & the Gang
, Modern Jazz Quartet
, Johnny Hammond, Pharoah Sanders
, Paul Bley
, Thelonious Monk
, Norman Connors
, Albert Ayler
, McCoy Tyner
, Dizzy Gillespie
, Don Sebesky
, Blue Note Records
, Black Jazz Records
, Impulse! Records
, CTI Records
, Verve Records
, Milestone Records
, Atlantic Records
, Muse Records
, and David Sanborn
.
Though this song is curiously absent of any direct reference to jazz legend Miles Davis
, the song Axe Puzzles contains many of his song titles as lyrics such as Bitches Brew and Spanish Key.
Quasimoto
Quasimoto is the alter ego or the side project of hip hop producer Madlib, from Oxnard, California. Quas is known for the raised pitch of his voice as if he was inhaling helium. Another notable characteristic is Quas inter-changing with Madlib's voice. One day in the studio, Madlib decided to...
, an alter ego
Alter ego
An alter ego is a second self, which is believe to be distinct from a person's normal or original personality. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century when dissociative identity disorder was first described by psychologists...
of producer Madlib
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. in Oxnard, California, known professionally as Madlib, is a Los Angeles-based DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer...
.
Release history
The album was conceived and recorded by Madlib during a week long psilocybinPsilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
mushroom binge.
Upon its release in 2000, it received much praise from underground heads and from mainstream media, making it onto Spin Magazine's top albums of the year list.
It was re-released in 2005 as a Deluxe Edition with a bonus CD containing the instrumental version of the album.
Reviews
"The Unseen is a scorched chocolate coated valley scattered with 'shrooms and smoker's debris that astro-travels way beyond the unchartered hinterlands of Hip-Hop, not unlike De La's 3 Feet High and Rising3 Feet High and Rising
3 Feet High and Rising is the debut album from American hip hop trio De La Soul, released in 1989.The album marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, which would become the critical and commercial peak of both parties. It is consistently placed on 'greatest...
once did." -Dan Stacey
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody (online music service)
Rhapsody is an online music store subscription service, launched in December 2001, and available in the United States only. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody officially declared its independence from RealNetworks. Downloaded files come with restrictions on their use, enforced by Helix, Rhapsody's version...
ranked the album #7 on its "Hip-Hop’s Best Albums of the Decade" list. "Madlib and alter ego Quasimoto take a weird, tangential and nuanced journey through the day in the life of a blunted b-boy. The production revisits Prince Paul's sampledelica, while Id surrogate Quas raps about hos and blunts. This is what happens when hip-hop's tightly wound world collides with psych's expansive inner-space. In a word: classic."
Jazz Cats Pt. 1
On the song "Jazz Cats Pt. 1", Madlib lists various JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musicians and record labels who have influenced him. They are, in order:
Sun Ra
Sun Ra
Sun Ra was a prolific jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher known for his "cosmic philosophy," musical compositions and performances. He was born in Birmingham, Alabama...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes
Hampton Hawes was an American bebop and hard-bop jazz pianist, recognized as one of the finest and most influential of the 1950s.-Biography:...
, Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn
Steve Kuhn is an American jazz pianist, composer and trio leader.-Biography:He began studying piano at the age of five and studied under Boston piano teacher Margaret Chaloff, mother of jazz baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, who taught him the "Russian style" of piano playing. At an early age he...
, George Cables
George Cables
George Andrew Cables is a jazz pianist, born November 14, 1944 in New York City.He has played with Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper, and others.His own recordings include the 1980 Cables Vision with Freddie Hubbard among others....
, Cedar Walton
Cedar Walton
Cedar Anthony Walton, Junior is an American hard bop jazz pianist.-Biography:Walton grew up in Dallas, Texas. His mother was an aspiring concert pianist, and was Walton's initial teacher. She also took him to jazz performances around Dallas...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Gene Harris
Gene Harris
Gene Harris was an American jazz pianist known for his warm sound and blues and gospel infused style that is known as soul jazz....
, Three Sounds, Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson is a jazz vibraphone and marimba player. His vibraphone playing is suggestive of the style of Milt Jackson in its free-flowing melodicism, but his sense of harmony and group interaction is thoroughly modern...
, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
, Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs
Terry Gibbs is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.He has performed and/or recorded with Tommy Dorsey, Chubby Jackson, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Louie Bellson, Charlie Shavers, Mel Tormé, Buddy DeFranco, and others...
, Gary Burton
Gary Burton
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
, Donald Byrd
Donald Byrd
Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, is an American jazz and rhythm and blues trumpeter. A sideman for many other jazz musicians of his generation, Byrd is best known as one of the only bebop jazz musicians who successfully pioneered the funk and soul genres while simultaneously remaining a...
, George Duke
George Duke
George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
, Lee Morgan
Lee Morgan
Edward Lee Morgan was an American hard bop trumpeter.-Biography:...
, Shirley Scott
Shirley Scott
Shirley Scott was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist. She was most known for working with her husband, Stanley Turrentine, and with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis...
, Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith (musician)
Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
, Gene Russell
Gene Russell
Gene Russell was an American pop, jazz, and soul keyboardist who played acoustic and Fender Rhodes.He is mainly known for the albums he released on Black Jazz Records.-Discography:*1967: Takin' Care of Business*1967: Up and Away...
, Art Ensemble of Chicago
Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's AACM in the late 1960s. The group continues to tour and record through 2006, despite the deaths of two of the founding members....
, Michael White
Michael White (violinist)
Michael Walter White is an American jazz violinist.White was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up in Oakland, California, taking up the violin when he was nine years old. He first became known in 1965 when he played with the John Handy Quintet at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and recorded three...
, Cal Tjader
Cal Tjader
Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his...
, Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
, Max Roach
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach was an American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer.A pioneer of bebop, Roach went on to work in many other styles of music, and is generally considered alongside the most important drummers in history...
, Freddie Hubbard
Freddie Hubbard
Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
, Cannonball Adderley, Eddie Harris
Eddie Harris
Eddie Harris was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. He was also fluent on the electric piano and organ...
, Milt Jackson
Milt Jackson
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms...
, Ron Carter
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
, Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments...
, William Fisher
William Fisher
William Fisher may refer to:*William Arms Fisher , American music historian* William Frederick Fisher , American astronaut*William Fisher *William Webster Fisher...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz is an American alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist.Bartz graduated from the Baltimore City College high school and The Juilliard School...
, Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
, Modern Jazz Quartet
Modern Jazz Quartet
The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 by Milt Jackson , John Lewis , Percy Heath , and Kenny Clarke . Connie Kay replaced Clarke in 1955...
, Johnny Hammond, Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders
Pharoah Sanders is a Grammy Award–winning American jazz saxophonist.Saxophonist Ornette Coleman once described him as "probably the best tenor player in the world." Emerging from John Coltrane's groups of the mid-60s Sanders is known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on...
, Paul Bley
Paul Bley
Paul Bley, CM is a pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing.-Biography:...
, Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Monk
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...
, Norman Connors
Norman Connors
Norman Connors is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, producer, and headliner, who has led some influential jazz and R&B groups. He also achieved several big R&B hits of the day, especially with love ballads.-Biography:...
, Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that "never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz" He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved...
, McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner
McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...
, Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
, Don Sebesky
Don Sebesky
Don Sebesky is an American jazz trombonist and arranger.-Biography:Sebesky trained in trombone at the Manhattan School of Music; in his early career, he played with Kai Winding, Claude Thornhill, Tommy Dorsey, Warren Covington, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton...
, Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
, Black Jazz Records
Black Jazz Records
Black Jazz Records was a jazz record label founded in Oakland, California during the early 1970s by jazz pianist Gene Russell.Russell founded the label as an alternative to traditional jazz invoking a more political and spiritual tone often with funk overtones. Black Jazz released various types...
, Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
, CTI Records
CTI Records
CTI Records was a jazz record label founded in 1967 by producer/A&R manager Creed Taylor. Initially, CTI was a subsidiary of A&M Records, but the label went independent in 1970...
, Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, Milestone Records
Milestone Records
Milestone Records is a United States based jazz record label, founded in 1966 by Orrin Keepnews and Dick Katz in New York City. The company was incorporated into Fantasy Records in 1972, since then it has been used for reissues as well as for new recordings....
, Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, Muse Records
Muse Records
Muse Records was an American record label which released jazz and blues music.Muse was founded in the early 1970s by Joe Fields, who had previously worked as an executive for Prestige Records in the 1960s...
, and David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
.
Though this song is curiously absent of any direct reference to jazz legend Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
, the song Axe Puzzles contains many of his song titles as lyrics such as Bitches Brew and Spanish Key.
Track listing
- "Welcome to Violence" – 0:49
- Contains a sample from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! is a 1965 exploitation film directed by Russ Meyer, who also wrote the script with Jack Moran. It stars Tura Satana, Haji, and Lori Williams....
(film) by Russ MeyerRuss MeyerRussell Albion "Russ" Meyer was a U.S. motion picture director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, actor and photographer....
- Contains a sample from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
- "Bad Character" – 1:56
- Contains a sample from: "I'm a Bad Character" by Melvin Van PeeblesMelvin Van PeeblesMelvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...
- Contains a sample from: "I'm a Bad Character" by Melvin Van Peebles
- "Microphone Mathematics" – 3:14
- Contains a sample from: "The Bizness" by De La SoulDe La SoulDe La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
- Contains a sample from: "Complete Communion" by Don CherryDon Cherry (jazz)Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
- Contains a sample from: "The Bizness" by De La Soul
- "Basic Instinct" – 2:10
- Contains a sample from: "Top Billin'" by Audio Two
- "Goodmorning Sunshine" – 2:57
- Contains a sample from: "Unfinished Melody" by Augustus PabloAugustus PabloHorace Swaby , known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer, melodica player and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He popularized the use of the melodica in reggae music...
- Contains a sample from: "Back in the Country" by Hurricane Smith
- Contains a sample from: "Unfinished Melody" by Augustus Pablo
- "Discipline 99, Pt. 0 (featuring Mr. Herb)" – 2:32
- Contains a sample from: "Two Little Boys" by The Last PoetsThe Last PoetsThe Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
- Contains a sample from: "Harlem Medley" by Galt MacDermotGalt MacDermotGalt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...
- Contains a sample from: "Two Little Boys" by The Last Poets
- "Low Class Conspiracy" – 2:26
- Contains a sample from: "Mellow Mood" by Jimmy SmithJimmy Smith (musician)Jimmy Smith was a jazz musician whose performances on the Hammond B-3 electric organ helped to popularize this instrument...
and Wes MontgomeryWes MontgomeryJohn Leslie "Wes" Montgomery was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists, emerging after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian and influencing countless others, including Pat Martino, George Benson, Russell Malone, Emily... - Also featured in Tony Hawk's UndergroundTony Hawk's UndergroundTony Hawk's Underground, abbreviated to THUG, is a skateboarding video game, available for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Xbox platforms released in 2003. A PC version was released exclusively in Australia as a budget release in 2005. This version was ported by Beenox. In 2004,...
.
- Contains a sample from: "Mellow Mood" by Jimmy Smith
- "Return of the Loop Digga" – 3:46
- Contains a sample from: "Fragments Of Fear" by Johnny HarrisJohnny HarrisJohnny Harris may refer to:*Johnny Harris , Scottish born composer, producer, arranger, conductor and musical director*Johnny Harris , soap opera character* Johnny Harris , English actor...
- Contains a sample from: "North, East, South, West" performed by Kool & the GangKool & the GangKool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
- Contains a sample from: "Oneness of Juju" by African Rhythms
- Contains a sample from: "Supermarket Blues" by Eugene McDaniels
- Contains a sample from: "Holy Are You" by David AxelrodDavid Axelrod (musician)David Axelrod is an American composer, arranger and producer, working in several musical genres.-Biography:...
- Contains a sample from: "Stockyard" by Galt MacDermotGalt MacDermotGalt MacDermot is a Canadian composer, pianist and writer of musical theatre. He won a Grammy Award for the song African Waltz in 1960. His most successful musicals have been Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona...
- Contains a sample from: "Tital Wave" by Ronnie LawsRonnie LawsRonald Wayne "Ronnie" Laws is an American jazz, blues and funk saxophonist. He is the younger brother of jazz flautist Hubert Laws.-Biography:...
- Contains a sample from: "Fragments Of Fear" by Johnny Harris
- "Real Eyes" – 3:22
- Intro clip from: "Freestyle (Ice Cream)" performed by Canibus
- Samples "Accadde A Bali" performed by Arawak
- Contains a sample from: "Dope Pusher Song" by Bill CosbyBill CosbyWilliam Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
- "Come on Feet" – 3:35
- Contains a sample from: Fantastic PlanetFantastic PlanetFantastic Planet is a 1973 animated science fiction film directed by René Laloux, production designed by Roland Topor, written by both of them and animated at Jiří Trnka Studio. The film was an international production between France and Czechoslovakia and was distributed in the United States by...
(film) by Alain GoraguerAlain GoraguerAlain Goraguer is a French jazz pianist, sideman of Boris Vian and Serge Gainsbourg, arranger and composer. He reached his creative peak in the 1960s and 1970s... - Contains a sample from: "C'Mon Feet" by Melvin Van PeeblesMelvin Van PeeblesMelvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...
- Contains a sample from: "Sensitize" by Roy AyersRoy AyersRoy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
- Contains a sample from: Fantastic Planet
- "Bluffin" – 2:47
- Contains a sample from: "Extensions" by Ahmad JamalAhmad JamalAhmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...
- Contains a sample from: "Track the Movement" by Lord FinesseLord FinesseLord Finesse is a Hip hop artist and producer, hailing from The Bronx, New York, best known as the leader of the D.I.T.C. rap crew.- Career :...
- Contains a sample from: "Extensions" by Ahmad Jamal
- "Boom Music" – 2:47
- Contains a sample from: "A Day In The Life" by Diamond D and the Psychotic Neurotics
- Contains a sample from: "May I Baby" by Sam & DaveSam & DaveSam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981. The tenor voice was Samuel David Moore , and the baritone/tenor voice was Dave Prater .Sam & Dave are members of...
- "MHBs" – 2:02
- Contains a sample from: "Little Children" by Kool & the GangKool & the GangKool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
- Contains a sample from: "Little Children" by Kool & the Gang
- "Put a Curse on You" – 1:46
- Samples the production music from the series Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
- "Astro Black" – 3:17
- Contains a sample from: "Woman to Woman" by Joe CockerJoe CockerJohn Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
- Contains a sample from: "Woman to Woman" by Joe Cocker
- "Green Power" – 2:59
- Contains a sample from: "Khidja" by MandrillMandrill (band)Mandrill is an American funk band formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1968. The band was formed by three brothers: Carlos Wilson , Lou Wilson and Ric Wilson . The brothers were born in Panama and grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn...
- Contains a sample from: "Khidja" by Mandrill
- "Jazz Cats, Pt. 1" – 2:43
- "24-7 (featuring Medaphoar)" – 2:48
- Contains a sample from: "False Rasta" by Jacob Miller Jacob MillerJacob Miller was a Jamaican reggae artist who first recorded with Clement Dodd. While pursuing a prolific solo career, he became the lead singer for reggae group Inner Circle with whom he recorded until his death in a car accident at the age of 27.-Biography:Jacob Miller was born in Mandeville,...
- Contains a sample from: "When You're Alone" by The DellsThe DellsThe Dells are an R&B and crossover musical group. Their successful recordings spanned more than four decades. Formed in 1952 after attending high school together, the Dells' repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul, disco and contemporary rhythm and blues...
- Contains a sample from: "Celestial Blues" by Andy BeyAndy BeyAndrew W. Bey is a jazz singer and pianist.Bey has a wide vocal range, with his four octave baritone voice.He worked on a television show, Startime, with Connie Francis and sang for Louis Jordan....
- Contains a sample from: "False Rasta" by Jacob Miller
- "The Unseen" – 2:53
- Contains a sample from: "Bubble Gum" by 9th Creation
- Contains a sample from: "California Soul" by Marlena ShawMarlena ShawMarlena Shaw is an American singer. Shaw began her singing career in the 1960s and is still singing today. Her music has often been sampled in hip hop music, and used in television commercials.-Biography:She was first introduced to music by her uncle Jimmy Burgess, a jazz trumpet player...
- Contains a sample from: "The Signs pt II" by David AxelrodDavid AxelrodDavid Axelrod may refer to:* David Axelrod * David Axelrod , Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama* David B. Axelrod , poet and educator...
- "Phony Game" – 1:56
- Contains a sample from: "The Phoney Game" by Melvin Van PeeblesMelvin Van PeeblesMelvin "Block" Van Peebles is an American actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, novelist and composer.He is most famous for creating the acclaimed film, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, which heralded a new era of African American focused films...
- Contains a sample from: "The Phoney Game" by Melvin Van Peebles
- "Astro Travellin" – 2:58
- Contains a sample from: "It Ain't Hard to TellIt Ain't Hard to Tell"It Ain't Hard to Tell" is Nas' second single and last track from his debut album Illmatic. Produced by Large Professor, the song samples Michael Jackson's 1983 hit single "Human Nature", "N.T." by Kool & the Gang, "Why Can't People Be Colors Too?" by The Whatnauts, "Long Red" by Mountain & "Slow...
" by NasNasNasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
- Contains a sample from: "It Ain't Hard to Tell
- "Blitz" – 1:16
- Contains a sample from: "MacArthur Park" by Maynard FergusonMaynard FergusonMaynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
- Contains a sample from: "MacArthur Park" by Maynard Ferguson
- "Axe Puzzles" – 2:34
- Contains a sample from: "Keep The faith" performed by Mel & Tim
- "Discipline 99, Pt. 1 (featuring Wildchild)" – 3:36
- Contains a sample from: "Future Shock (Dance Your Pants Off)" performed by The J.B.'sThe J.B.'sThe J.B.'s were James Brown's band during the first half of the 1970s. On record the J.B.'s were sometimes billed under various alternate names such as The James Brown Soul Train, Maceo and the Macks, A.A.B.B., The First Family and The Last Word...
- Contains a sample from: "Flip The Script" by Gang StarrGang StarrGang Starr was an influential East Coast hip hop duo that consisted of the late MC Guru and DJ/producer DJ Premier. Their style combined elements of New York jazz and hip hop.-Background:...
- Contains a sample from: "I Used To Love H.E.R" by Common (entertainer)
- Contains a sample from: "Ain't No Half Steppin'" by Big Daddy KaneBig Daddy KaneAntonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
- Contains a sample from: "Future Shock (Dance Your Pants Off)" performed by The J.B.'s