The venerable producers drop an experimental 13-track jazz album.
Madlib and Karriem Riggins have released their debut album as Jahari Massamba Unit.
Announced last month (but teased years back by Riggins in an interview with Okayplayer,) Pardon My French is an experimental 13-track jazz album from the venerable hip-hop producers, who previously collaborated on one-offs as Jahari Massamba Unit and The Supreme Team on Madlib’s Medicine Show album series. According to Riggins, the new album had an unconventional conception. “The way we work is definitely different. We pass each other’s CDs almost the way a rapper gives a producer vocals, except I give him drums and he’ll put all the music to it,” Riggins told us back in 2016.
Pardon My French arrives on the tail-end of an active year for both producers. Riggins handled the bulk of the production on Common’s new album, A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 1. Madlib, on the other hand, commenced 2020 with another collaborative project, linking with his brother, Oh No, on their own self-titled inaugural outing as The Professionals. The Beat Konducta also contributed production to Fly Anakin and Pink Siifu’s new joint album FlySiifu‘s, as well as a loose retaliatory freestyle from Noname. In a late-2019 interview with Giles Peterson, Madlib and his manager, Egon, confirmed there was even more on the way, revealing collaborative projects with Westside Gunn, Fly Anakin, and a third, potentially final, album with Freddie Gibbs, tentatively-titled, Montana.
Stream Madlib and Karriem Riggins’ debut album as Jahari Massamba Unit below. Pardon My French was released on vinyl in both standard and limited edition packages via Rappcats. The deluxe, pressed to just 500 copies with a silkscreened cover, is already sold out. But you can grab your copy of the standard-issue pressing today. Hold tight for their next transmissions in the weeks and months ahead.