Sound Ancestors
by Madlib

Sound Ancestors by Madlib
Year: 2021
Release date: 2021-01-29
Overall rank: 5,366th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 97 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 2021 (65th)
Award Top albums of the 2020s (330th)
Award Best albums of all time (5,366th)

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Madlib bestography

Sound Ancestors is ranked 3rd best out of 39 albums by Madlib on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Madlib is The Unseen which is ranked number 2831 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 545.

Madlib album bestography « Higher ranked (4,162nd)
Shades Of Blue
This album (5,366th)
Sound Ancestors
Lower ranked (10,796th) »
Yessir Whatever

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Upcoming concerts

Mar
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ERNEST: LIVE FROM THE SOUTH TOUR
Irving Plaza Powered By Verizon 5G, New York, United States. United States
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Apr
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Wed
Free Throw - Moments Before The Wind Tour
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Mar
27
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Boy George & Culture Club: Live in Las Vegas
The Venetian Theatre at The Venetia, Las Vegas, United States. United States
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Sound Ancestors track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 73 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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Sound Ancestors rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 5,366th | 2020s rank: 330th | 2021 rank: 65th
Filter Filter
Sort Sort by
YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026 bertranduTop 100 Music Albums of 202177/1001
2026 LedZepTop 100 Music Albums of 202173/1001
2026 PurplepashRanked listening log 2021 201-25223/52 -
2026 KitchenSinkTop 100 Music Albums of 20218/1005
2026 RockyRaccoonHip-Hop Pt. 240/75 -
2026 ExTeaSeaTop 100 Music Albums of 202193/1000
2026 RepoTop 100 Music Albums of 202154/1002
2026JohnnyoAlbums of the year 2021 by Piccadilly Records32/55 -
2026 baystateoftheartTop 100 Music Albums of 202179/1001
2025 ForegroundNoiseTop 20 Music Albums of 202119/201
2025blueandthemoonTop 100 Music Albums of the 2020s68/1004
2025 ammf3Top 52 Music Albums of 202113/524
2025mjp11Top 50 Music Albums of 202149/500
2025 Larcx13Top 85 Music Albums of the 2020s65/853
2025blueandthemoonTop 31 Music Albums of 202123/311
2025HyggevinylTop 100 Music Albums of the 2020s65/1005
2025 drstueyTop 37 Music Albums of 202128/371
2025FelipeBoorkesTop 60 Music Albums of the 2020s5/6013
2025AlienCinemaTop 80 Music Albums of 202114/804
2025PapaShiz86Top 100 Music Albums of 202142/1003
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 109
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 253
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

Sound Ancestors collection

Sound Ancestors ratings

Average Rating: 
71/100 (from 97 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 97 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
70/100
 
04/05/2025 18:06 MagicSix  Ratings distribution  90860/100
 
60/100
 
10/15/2024 05:04 bcc  Ratings distribution  1,13268/100
 
50/100
 
01/11/2023 16:14 Davy  Ratings distribution  1,34570/100
 
70/100
 
12/26/2022 21:05 eric_005  Ratings distribution  1,93476/100
 
75/100
 
11/08/2022 04:31 Alansanchezt  Ratings distribution  44679/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 71.5/100, a mean average of 70.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 71.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.1.

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Sound Ancestors favourites

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Sound Ancestors comments

Showing all 4 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Rating:  
70/100
From 03/12/2021 03:52 | #267263
(Efficient, beautiful and incredibly well produced instrumental hip hop album. Maybe it’s not generally my cuppa, but nonetheless it made me a fan for a few hours as I listened to this on repeat.)

Overall I found this to be a good, engaging and replayable instrumental hip hop album. Generally this genre is one I tend not to listen to. That might explain why this may be the highest profile release of the year so far amongst music nerds that I haven’t dived into. But based off my limited experience with the genre and the legend who is making this art, I can say that I really enjoyed the flow and artistry of this album.

The vocals and the spoken bits were all consistently well integrated into the song, the beats were never too loud or over the top but they did consistently create a nice sonic atmosphere. And the flow and length of the album was exactly what I wanted.

It also makes me wanna go back and listen to his back catalog of solo albums. I know he has some classics over the years.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
65/100
From 02/06/2021 11:13 | #265859
Maybe it's because I was too excited for this and set the bar too high, but I sadly found it a bit underwhelming, it left something more to be desired. I fail to see how this comes even close to his best work. Still, there were some great moments, like the self-titled track.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 02/02/2021 10:29 | #265573
Great, eclectic record. Really interesting use of rhythms and samples. Not a bad listen
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
70/100
From 01/30/2021 13:59 | #265319
Has good moments but generally boring.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (2 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
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