Madvillainy
Madvillainy is the only studio album by American hip-hop duo Madvillain, consisting of British and American rapper MF Doom and American record producer Madlib. It was released on March 23, 2004, by Stones Throw Records.
The album was recorded between 2002 and 2004. Madlib created most of the instrumentals during a trip to Brazil in his hotel room using minimal amounts of equipment: a Boss SP-303 sampler, a turntable, and a tape deck. Fourteen months before the album was released, an unfinished demo version was stolen and leaked onto the internet. Frustrated, the duo stopped working on the album and returned to it only after they had released other solo projects.
While Madvillainy achieved only moderate commercial success, it became one of the best-selling Stones Throw albums. It peaked at number 179 on the US Billboard 200, and attracted attention from media outlets not usually covering hip-hop music, including The New Yorker. Madvillainy received widespread critical acclaim for Madlib's production and MF Doom's lyricism, and is regarded as Doom's magnum opus. It has since been widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time in general, being ranked in various publications' lists of all-time greatest albums, including at 411 on NME
Background
In 1997, after the death of his brother DJ Subroc and the rejection of KMD's album Black Bastards by Elektra Records four years previously, rapper Daniel Dumile returned to music as the masked rapper MF Doom. In 1999, Doom released his debut solo album Operation: Doomsday on Fondle 'Em Records. According to Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club, the album "has attained mythic status; its legend has grown in proportion to its relative unavailability". Soon after release of the album, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Madlib stated that he wanted to collaborate with two artists: J Dilla and Doom.In 2001, after Fondle 'Em closed, Doom disappeared. During that time, he lived between Long Island, New York, and Kennesaw, a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Coincidentally, Eothen "Egon" Alapatt, who was the manager of Madlib's label Stones Throw Records, had a friend in Kennesaw. He asked the friend to give Doom some instrumentals from Madlib. Three weeks later, the friend called back, telling him that Doom loved the instrumentals and wanted to work with Madlib. Soon, one of Doom's "quasi-managers" made an offer, asking for plane tickets to Los Angeles and $1,500. Despite the fact that the label didn't have enough money after buying the tickets, they immediately agreed. According to Egon, soon after arrival, the manager went to him demanding money, while Doom visited Madlib:
Egon's plan was successful, and Doom and Madlib began working together. Soon after, Stones Throw Records managed to collect the money necessary to pay Doom and a contract to the label was signed, which was written on a paper plate.
Recording
Doom and Madlib started working on Madvillainy in 2002. Madlib created one hundred beats in a matter of weeks, some of which were used on Madvillainy, some were used on his collaboration album with J Dilla Champion Sound, while others were used for M.E.D.'s and Dudley Perkins' albums. Even though Stones Throw booked Doom a hotel room, he spent most of the time in Madlib's studio, based in an old bomb shelter in Mount Washington, Los Angeles. When the duo was not working on the album, they were spending free time together, drinking beer, eating Thai food, smoking marijuana, and taking psychedelic mushrooms. "Figaro" and "Meat Grinder" were among the songs recorded during this time.In November 2002, Madlib went to Brazil to participate in a Red Bull Music Academy lecture, where he debuted the first music from the album by playing an unfinished version of "America's Most Blunted". Madlib also went crate digging during his time in Brazil, searching for obscure vinyl records he could sample later, with fellow producers Cut Chemist, DJ Babu, and J.Rocc. According to Madlib himself, he bought multiple crates full of vinyl records, two of which he later lost. He used some of these records to produce beats for Madvillainy. Most of the album, including beats for "Strange Ways", "Raid", and "Rhinestone Cowboy", was produced in his hotel room in São Paulo, using a portable turntable, a cassette deck, and a Boss SP-303 sampler. While Madlib was working on the album in Brazil, the unfinished demo was stolen and leaked on the internet, 14 months before its official release. Jeff Jank, Stones Throw's art director, remembers the leak in the interview with Pitchfork:
Doom and Madlib decided to work on different projects. Madlib released Champion Sound with J Dilla, while Doom released two solo albums: Take Me to Your Leader, as King Geedorah, and Vaudeville Villain, as Viktor Vaughn. Nevertheless, after the release of these albums, they decided to return to Madvillainy. For the final version of the album, Doom altered his voice, described by Peanut Butter Wolf as going from "really hyper, more enthusiastic" to "a more mellow, relaxed, confident, less abrasive", and changed some lyrics to coincide with this change. Madlib was also asked by the label to change some instrumentals, but told them that he forgot the samples he used in order for them to remain on the album. Additionally, the label also requested the duo make a proper ending for the album, forcing them to rent a studio for the recording of "Rhinestone Cowboy". The beat used, however, was produced in Brazil.
Production
Madvillainy was produced almost entirely by Madlib, except the first track, which he produced in collaboration with Doom. On the album, Madlib incorporates his distinctive production style, based on using samples, mostly obscure, from albums recorded in different countries. Aside from sampling records by American artists, namely from jazz and soul, Madlib also used Indian and Brazilian records for Madvillainy. In regards to Madlib's production on the album, he stated in an interview:I did most of the Madvillain album in Brazil. Cuts like "Raid" I did in my hotel room in Brazil on a portable turntable, my 303, and a little tape deck. I recorded it on tape, came back here, put it on CD, and Doom made a song out of it.
The album consists of 22 songs, most of which are under 3 minutes and contain no hooks or choruses. Sam Samuelson of AllMusic compared the album to a comic book, "sometimes segued with vignettes sampled from 1940s movies and broadcasts or left-field -toting skits". He also noted that some instrumentals on the album " to be so out of time or step with a traditional hip-hop direction". The A.V. Club compared the album to a buffet, where "Madlib and Doom are interested in throwing out ideas as fast as they have them, giving them as much attention as they need, and moving on to the next thing". Tim O'Neil of PopMatters praised Madlib's instrumentals and said that they "make the album a sonic feast".
Lyrics
Doom's lyrics on Madvillainy are free-associative. According to Stereogum, the album "is about using sound to craft semi-indecipherable vignettes that are situated somewhere between the real and the mythical". Despite originally featuring a more enthusiastic, excited delivery, the leak prompted Doom to go with a slower and more relaxed flow on the final version of the album. This move has been praised by various publications, including Pitchfork, which said that it was "ultimately better-suited" than the original.Throughout the album, Doom uses a number of literary devices, including multisyllabic rhymes, internal rhymes, alliteration, assonance, and holorimes. Music critics also noted extensive use of wordplay and double entendres. PopMatters wrote, "You can spend hours poring over the lyric sheet and attempting to grok Doom's infinitely dense verbiage. If language is arbitrary, then many of Doom's verses exploit the essence of words stripped of meaning, random conglomerations of syllables assembled in an order that only makes sense from a rhythmical standpoint", the critic added. The Observer stated that "the densely telegraphic lyrics almost always reward closer inspection" and that Doom's "rhymes miss beats, drop into the middle of the next line, work their way through whole verses" allowing for a smooth listen.
Artwork
The album cover art was created by Stones Throw's art director Jeff Jank, based on a grayscale photo of Doom in his metal mask. In an interview with Ego Trip, Jank said:The photo was created by photographer Eric Coleman at Stones Throw's house in Los Angeles, and edited by Jank. While working on the Madvillainy album cover, Jank drew inspiration from King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King artwork. However, following its completion, he noticed the artwork eerily resembled Madonna's Madonna artwork. Despite this, Jank stuck with the original artwork, labeling it as the "rap version of Beauty and the Beast". A small orange square was added to the final version of Madvillainy, due to Jank's thinking that the artwork "needed something distinctive", comparing it to the orange "O" on the Madonna cover.
Release and promotion
Two singles from Madvillainy were released before the album release: "Money Folder" bundled with "America's Most Blunted", and "All Caps" bundled with "Curls". The first single peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Madvillainy was released on March 23, 2004. Despite Stones Throw Records being a relatively small label, the album achieved moderate commercial success, which was big for the label. According to Pitchfork, "after two years of hectoring Stones Throw for making unsalable records, distributor EMI couldn't keep Madvillainy in stock." The album peaked at number 179 on Billboard 200 and sold approximately 150,000 copies, making it one of the label's best-selling albums. Its success allowed Stones Throw to open an office in Highland Park, Los Angeles.Four official videos were created for the album upon its initial release: "All Caps", "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion", and "Shadows of Tomorrow". "All Caps" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" appear on the DVD Stones Throw 101 along with a hidden easter egg video for "Shadows Of Tomorrow" as a special bonus feature. An impromptu video for "Accordion" was filmed in 2004 but was not released until 2008's In Living the True Gods DVD. In November 2024, Stones Throw re-released "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion," to their YouTube channel, both remastered by director Andrew Gura from the original files to 4K resolution.
An instrumental version of the album was released in 2004 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. It was re-released in 2012 on vinyl with picture sleeve.
In 2014, in honor of the 10th anniversary of Madvillainy, Stones Throw released a special edition of the album on vinyl. The album re-entered Billboard 200 chart, peaking at number 117, higher than it did originally. The same year Madvillainy was also released on Compact Cassettes, as part of the Cassette Store Day.