The diminutive, geeky-looking RJD2 is one of the most well-regarded producers in all of hip-hop, with a penchant for tracks that incorporate wildly varying elements, often shifting on a dime into something completely new and unexpected. He's produced or remixed tracks for underground icons like Aesop Rock, the late MF DOOM, Cage, J-Live, Souls of Mischief, and many others — but he has particular chemistry with the legendary Aceyalone of Freestyle Fellowship, and Magnificent City is, on the whole, a stunning, breathless work of creativity.
Aceyalone is a famously esoteric MC whose lyrics often border on the surreal, and his characteristically poetic lyrics on "A Beautiful Mine" at times seem to serendipitously dovetail with some of the themes Weiner would explore with Mad Men.
"On top of the mountain peak where the man speaks to himself / Cursing to them with a start / What he felt can't be described / It's alive," he raps. "They opened up the brain and opened up the heart / What is man made of / Love from the dark / The will to invent the will / Work the field, the shield, the intent to kill, the uphill / Finder of lost souls, teacher of apostles, the mind's so colossal / A beautiful mind."
It's easy to imagine how Weiner might have been inspired by what he was hearing the first time he cued up the track. In particular, because once he pegged it as Mad Men's perfect theme song, every idea he had previously had about the opening credits sequence — and there were a lot of them — went out the window.
