Madlib / M.E.D. / Blu: Bad Neighbor

Madlib’s calling card is his ability to spin obscure funk into woozy rap instrumentals. With the lack of precision and attention to mood, they feel out of time and slightly off-kilter, and they fit perfectly with artists like Erykah Badu and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Recently though, it seems the Cali composer has reined himself in a bit: 2014’s Piñata had all the grit you'd expect from Madlib, but it was crisper and recessive, allowing more space for Freddie Gibbs' menacing, in-the-pocket flows. He further restrains his sound on Bad Neighbor, a collaborative LP with rappers M.E.D. and Blu. This is a light-hearted jaunt, with the rappers leaping from topic to topic, as if passing a blunt between verses. Don’t expect anything profound here. At its core, Bad Neighbor is about three dudes and their friends, spitting verses over great beats without sweating structure.

The producer fits well into this free-flowing group. He also feeds off seemingly random ideas, connecting dots between misplaced vocal clips and Afro-rock samples, and despite his talents he can be easy to take for granted. M.E.D. had a nice showing on 2004’s Madvillainy, the revered outing from MF DOOM and Madlib, but his output has been sparse from there. Blu has been incredibly prolific, but many of his releases are marred with improper mixing and unfocused rhymes, with as many standouts (Below the Heavens, Her Favorite Colo(u)r) as bricks, like Jesus. and the short-lived ucla. On their own, all of these guys are good but sometimes get overlooked.

Bad Neighbor is their second release. In 2013, the trio put out The Burgundy EP, powered by the fluid single "Burgundy Whip". That song re-emerges near the end of Bad Neighbor, but it feels like an afterthought compared with the stronger, more vivid material around it. "Peroxide", featuring Dâm-Funk and DJ Rome, resembles "Planet Rock"-era electro-funk, and the MCs bounce nimbly atop its darting synthetics. "The Stroll" flashes a bright, disorienting synth like a flood light, the beat so full of little noises it's like an event itself.

Anderson .Paak, the grit-voiced singer/rapper who featured prominently on Dr. Dre's Compton and who recently dropped his own noteworthy EP, appears almost out of nowhere on Bad Neighbor track "The Strip", lending his strained voice to the proceedings. There are a few appearances like that, and they feel purposefully casual, allowing everyone to thrive on their own terms. On "Finer Things", Foreign Exchange frontman Phonte Coleman sings the hook and raps about adult romance. MF DOOM shows up on "Knock Knock" to offer his signature disconnected one-liners. Bad Neighbor whizzes by in a blunted haze, which might be an insult to another project, but it works well here, when the stakes are low and the mood is most important.