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Madvillainy by Madvillain

This 2004 album comes from two of the greatest minds in hip-hop we’ve ever seen; Madlib (aka Malik Flavors, Quasimoto…) and MF DOOM (aka DOOM, King Geedorah, Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, Zev Love X). This album is still regarded as one of the greatest Hip Hop albums of all time, although many people may find the vocal stylings and the sounds and samples of the beats strange and different from what they may have heard before. Madvillainy peaked at 179th on the US Billboard 200 in a year where we saw many major Hip-Hop releases, such as, Kanye West’s first studio album, College Dropout which has sold over four million copies worldwide, and Eminem’s fifth studio album, Encore which sold eleven million copies in only nine months.

 Madlib is an American DJ, multi-instrumentalist, rapper, and music producer from Oxnard, California. He is one of the most known, and respected artists of the 2000s. Madlib has described himself as a "DJ first, producer second, and MC last." He was originally signed to the Los Angeles based, Stones Throw Records as part of the group Lootpack, but his very first solo album was released under the name of one of his many aliases, Quasimoto. The Album was called The Unseen and many would call it a classic album. Since then, he has released tons of solo music and many, many collaborative pieces, the highest regarded, being this very album I will be reviewing, Madvillainy.

MF DOOM, born in London, England, raised in Long Island, New York, is a very mysterious and devious individual. He always wears a Metal Mask when out in public. MF in his name has said to have many meanings, one being Metal Face and his mask looks similar to the Marvel Comics super villain, Doctor Doom’s. He often makes himself out as a real life Super Villain, and goes by many different personas and characters. MF DOOM has released six solo studio albums, two as MF DOOM, two as Viktor Vaughn, one as King Geedorah, and one as DOOM. He has also released seven collaboration albums with artists like, Danger Mouse, Bishop Nehru, and of course, Madlib. He is considered to be one of the most creative wordsmiths that music has ever seen. MF DOOM has also been producing beats for a very long time as well and has released plenty of Instrumental albums. From the years 2001 to 2005 he released the albums Special Blends Volumes 1 and 2, and, Special Herbs Volumes 0 through 9. MF DOOM, after completing his European tour has said he is “done with the United States” and has been in the UK for a few years now and has been very, very quiet.

This album uses a plethora of samples, (sampling is when you take something from any sound clip and place it into your song, it can be an anything from an instrument, someone singing, someone talking, or just general noise, and it can be chopped and moved into a way it will fit into your song) and Madlib and MF Doom went to the furthest reaches of songs, television and radio shows, movies, and cartoons to find samples, and they are all so beautifully included into this album. For example, the song “America’s Most Blunted” samples from 16 different songs, including a 1962 Disney record that teaches children the alphabet. You must be very creative and talented to find and use samples in the way Madlib does. Madlib often goes to record stores and buys many records that catch his eye for the sole purpose of finding samples.

Standout tracks to me are “Accordion”, “Meat Grinder”, “Figaro”, “All Caps”, “Fancy Clown”, “Great Day” and “Strange Ways”. MF DOOM’s wordplay and lyrics are mind boggling at times and could even require looking up online to figure out some of his obscure references, or at least see people try to decipher them. One of my favourite verses on the album is MF DOOM’s verse on the song “Figaro” which starts off with “The rest is empty with no brain but the clever nerd; the best emcee with no chain ya ever heard.”  The rhyme scheme on this line is great, Rest is empty and Best emcee, No brain and No chain, clever nerd and ever heard. This also shows of his confidence that there is no one other than DOOM and that other rappers are mindless and dumb. This line is only the very beginning of the song, which is packed full of creative wordplay and thought provoking references and double-meanings. Throughout the album DOOM’s lyrics can vary from tongue and cheek jokes about his own issues, combined with throwing a curveball and avoiding a certain word he clearly intends the listener to expect “Spit so many verses sometimes my jaw twitches. One thing this party could use is more... booze” to a biblical reference “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. After you who’s last, it’s DOOM, he’s the worst known” and anything in-between.

                There are honestly no tracks that I truly dislike on this album. Every song brings something new and original to the table and Madlib always find the right way to work his instrumentals and DOOM’s lyrics are always fantastic.

Madvillainy meshes new and fresh ideas and sounds with hip-hop’s roots seamlessly. This album is a must listen to any and all people, especially those who enjoy creativity and crave for something, different. It may even take a few listens for the listener to truly take in everything they’re hearing because from all the different rhyme schemes, to the interesting samples, even people who have been listening to Madvillainy since it came out may hear something different or have a set of lyrics click for them and make sense every time they play a song from this album. The duo that is Madvillain put their hearts and souls into this album, and it shows, as almost 12 years later it sounds as original as it was when it was first spun.

 

-Reid Zonneveld

 

Check out the animated Music Video for “All Caps” here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY

Check out the entire album on Spotify:

https://play.spotify.com/album/61809gZj46tFYs0g4s51nu

Buy the album, or any other Madvillain and Stones Throw related merchandise here:

http://www.stonesthrow.com/madvillain