In 2001, Madlib took a turn away from traditional hip hop music, releasing his first Yesterdays New Quintet LP, Angles Without Edges. Yesterdays New Quintet is a Jazz-based, hip hop and Electronic-influenced quintet made up of four fictitious characters, Ahmad Miller, Monk Hughes, Malik Flavors, Joe McDuphrey; and Madlib under his real name, Otis Jackson Jr. Madlib has continued to record other albums under the different guises of Yesterdays New Quintet members, including 2002's tribute to Stevie Wonder, Stevie; as well as "solo" albums by the various members, such as Monk Hughes' 2004's tribute to Weldon Irvine, A Tribute to Brother Weldon, Joe McDuphrey Experience. He also created the pseudonym Sound Directions to create the YNQ-like band's "debut" album The Funky Side of Life.

The first, released in 2002, was a collection of old dub reggae tracks from Trojan Records, and was titled Blunted in the Bomb Shelter. The second, Shades of Blue was released in 2003 and is a remix of Blue Note Records.[3] This album features original Blue Note recordings, some remixed and resampled, and some replayed by Madlib, as well as rapping by M.E.D. aka Medaphoar. -Wikipedia

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