The sound of Blue Note had been embedded in hip-hop through sampling and remixes since its early days but Madlib raised the bar when the DJ, producer, rapper and multi-instrumentalist invaded the Blue Note vaults for his 2003 masterpiece Shades of Blue, a visionary album featuring remixes and reimaginations of classics by Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, Ronnie Foster, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter and more.