"Madlib changed the beat vocabulary with "Madvillainy""
was listening to "Madvillainy" yesterday and was reminded how left many of the production aspects were when it dropped. The quiet snares, appealingly lo-fi mix and master, the copious amounts of certain effects like wah wah, flange. Cats had effects in beats before, of course, but not so much as central elements of the beat's "character". Not to mention the explosion of cats who took to using the SP-303 after the LP dropped.
Some observations I'd taken for granted as of late, which happens when you're like "yeah, that's a classic, of course" and keep it moving