This had been in my to listen to list for a long time. In that time I had no idea that for much of the album I'd be hearing a guy on helium rapping. While the high vocals aren't as bad as they sound like they'd be, I'd bet that if this were by some no name artist and not the well renowned Madlib that it wouldn't have the rep it does. Furthermore, you have to ask yourself, would this be better without the high voice? Surely the answer would be yes. After all that, it won't be a surprise to hear me say that the production is the best part of this. A number of the song intros are great, and then the vocals kick in.... However, not all are brilliant 'Discipline 99 Pt. 0', 'Goodmorning Sunshine' and 'Jazz Cats Pt. 1' among others are all pretty boring and the yelling on 'Put a Curse on You' is extremely annoying. Also, on 'Return of the Loop Digga' Madlib disses producers for reusing the same sample, but he does on MHB's using one from the well known Ho Happy Jackie by AZ, not to mention Nas from Illmatic among others I've noticed. That's not really loop diggin'... Overall the vocals are a strange decision and I don't hear the originality and more importantly the greatness in enough of the beats that others speak of. 2.5-3 / 5.
Best Tracks: Microphone Mathematics, Low Class Conspiracy, MHBs, Boom Music, Axe Puzzles, Discipline 99 Pt. 1