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

Madlib says that music nowadays "should be like Public Enemy," and "how it was in the earlier days."

BYCole Blake
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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.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.