| Madvillainy | ||||||||||||||
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| Studio album by Madvillain | ||||||||||||||
| Released | March 23, 2004 | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 2002–2004 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||||||||||||
| Length | 46:10 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Stones Throw | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Madlib, MF DOOM | |||||||||||||
| Madvillain chronology | ||||||||||||||
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| Madlib chronology | ||||||||||||||
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Madvillainy is the debut album by American hip hop duo Madvillain, a group consisting of MF DOOM (MC) and Madlib (producer). It was released on March 23, 2004 on Stones Throw Records to overwhelmingly positive reviews. It received universal acclaim from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 93/100 from Metacritic.[1]
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Madvillainy was praised for its unique and innovative approach to hip hop: short tracks, abstract lyrics, few choruses and a sound generally unfriendly to commercial radio. Despite this, the album achieved moderate commercial success-peaking at #179 on the U.S. Billboard 200-and attracted much attention from media outlets not usually covering hip hop music, including The New Yorker.
Four videos were made for the album: "All Caps" (directed by James Reitano), "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion" (both directed by Andrew Gura). "All Caps" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" appear on the DVD "Stones Throw 101" along with a hidden easter egg video for "Shadows Of Tomorrow" (directed by System D-128) as a hidden feature. An impromptu video for "Accordion" was filmed in 2004 but not released until 2008's In Living the True Gods DVD.
At least two tracks on Madvillainy ("Rhinestone Cowboy", "Strange Ways") were produced using a portable turntable, a cassette deck and a Boss SP303 sampler[2] by Madlib in Brazil. The first music to be publicly debuted from Madvillainy was the song "America's Most Blunted" which was played by Madlib at the Red Bull Music Academy in Brazil, November 2002.
An instrumental version of the album was released only in vinyl format and Digitally through various online stores, with the tracks "The Illest Villains", "Bistro", "Sickfit", "Do Not Fire!", and "Supervillain Theme" being omitted. Two remix EPs of Madvillainy were released on Stones Throw. The remixes were done by Four Tet and Koushik.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [3] |
| Robert Christgau | (A-)[4] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B)[5] |
| The New Yorker | (favorable)[6] |
| Pitchfork Media | (9.4/10)[7] |
| PopMatters | (favorable)[8] |
| Slant Magazine | [9] |
| Stylus Magazine | (A-)[10] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | [11] |
| The Village Voice | (favorable)[12] |
In 2009, the album was selected in HipHopDX.com's Top 10 Albums of the '00s.[13]
Spin (p. 66) - Ranked #17 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "Madlib's production — thick, woozy slabs of beatnik bass — keeps things hotter than an underground volcano lair."
Rhapsody - Ranked #13 on Rhapsody's "100 Best Albums of the Decade" list and #1 on the "Hip-Hop's Best Albums of the Decade" list. "The collaboration between underground hip-hop’s most adventurous producer (Madlib) and its most treasured lyricist (MF DOOM), Madvillainy is full of dark alleys and trapdoors. DOOM’s lines are extended vocabulary workouts and take repeated listens to fully unpack, yet there are times when the emcee peers through the Dada-ist carnival of words and speaks directly and honestly. Madlib’s production, meanwhile, is pure pastiche, a smorgasbord of world music, classic soul and outsider music. Snippets of childhood recordings rub against Sun Ra and Sonny Rollins. It’s a dark, funny and strange album."[14][15]
Pitchfork - Ranked # 13 in Pitchfork's "The Top 100 Albums of 2000-04" - "While Madlib's special power played tricks on your ears-- a sample you were sure was the sound of cars rolling by on the street might sound like the hiss of a record on a different day ("Rainbows")-- Doom unfurled his clever lyrics like a roll of sod on earth... and the album curved in on itself like a two-way mirror."[16] Pitchfork more recently ranked it as the 25th best album of the 2000s.[17]
All tracks written by MF DOOM (D. Dumile — LORD DIHOO MUSIC, ASCAP) and Madlib (O. Jackson Jr. - Madlib Invazion, BMI), except:
| # | Title | Length | Producer(s) | Performer(s) | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Illest Villains" | 1:55 | Madlib & MF DOOM | n/a |
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| 2 | "Accordion" | 1:59 | Madlib | MF DOOM | |
| 3 | "Meat Grinder" | 2:12 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 4 | "Bistro" | 1:08 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 5 | "Raid" | 2:31 | Madlib | MF DOOM & M.E.D. (a.k.a. Medaphoar) |
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| 6 | "America's Most Blunted" | 3:54 | Madlib | MF DOOM, Madlib & Lord Quas |
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| 7 | "Sickfit" (Instrumental) | 1:22 | Madlib | n/a | |
| 8 | "Rainbows" | 2:52 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 9 | "Curls" | 1:36 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 10 | "Do Not Fire!" (Instrumental) | 0:53 | Madlib | n/a |
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| 11 | "Money Folder" | 3:03 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 12 | "Shadows of Tomorrow" | 2:36 | Madlib | Lord Quas & Madlib |
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| 13 | "Operation Lifesaver AKA Mint Test" | 1:30 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 14 | "Figaro" | 2:26 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 15 | "Hardcore Hustle" | 1:22 | Madlib | Wildchild |
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| 16 | "Strange Ways" | 1:52 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 17 | "Fancy Clown" | 1:56 | Madlib | Viktor Vaughn[19] & Allah's Reflection |
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| 18 | "Eye" | 1:58 | Madlib | Stacy Epps |
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| 19 | "Supervillain Theme" (Instrumental) | 0:53 | Madlib | n/a | |
| 20 | "ALL CAPS" | 2:10 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 21 | "Great Day" | 2:17 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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| 22 | "Rhinestone Cowboy" | 4:02 | Madlib | MF DOOM |
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Album - Billboard (North America)
| Year | Album | Chart positions | |||
| Billboard 200 | Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums | Top Independent Albums | Top Heatseekers | ||
| 2004 | Madvillainy | #179 | #80 | #10 | #9 |
Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix was released by Stones Throw in 2008, containing a complete remix of the album by Madlib as a part of a Madvillain box set.[22]
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