Madvillain | Madvillainy (CD)

Madvillain: Madlib, MF Doom. Additional personnel includes: Lord Quas, M.E.D., Wildchild, Viktor Vaughn, Stacy Epps. Personnel: Allah's Reflection, MF Doom (vocals). Audio Mixer: Dave Cooley. Recording information: Bionic (2003); Doom's Crib, Atlanta, GA (2003); The Bomb Shelter, Los Angeles, CA (2003). Illustrator: James Reitano. Two years in the making, and combining two of the best underground hip-hop artists of the early 2000s, this collaboration between MF Doom and Madlib has been appropriately dubbed MADVILLAINY. With both men known for their stunning soundscapes, rhyming skills, and schizophrenic personalities, the duo decided to have Madlib concentrate on the beats and let Doom handle the lyrics. In mixing their comic-book-like personas, Madlib and Doom play to their nearly superhuman strengths; while some other collaborations of this caliber seems forced and lop-sided, there is absolutely no filler here--just undiluted beats and rhymes, best exemplified by the singles "America's Most Blunted" and "All Caps." Lib's inventive production leans towards the jazzy side of his repertoire, and Doom unleashes outrageous lyrics on par with his solo efforts (and even his work as Zevlove X in his stint with K.M.D.). Never flashy or glamorous, MADVILLAINY is served straight up, the way hip-hop was meant to be.

Madlib the producer and MF Doom the MC - two of indie hip hop's most celebrated and debated. Madvillain is their collaboration, the subject of speculation and controversy among their diverse body of fans since they announced the project a year ago. This is pure unadulterated hip hop.

For all his Frankenstein-stitched '80s R&B beats and early '90s Shaolin-raw ambience, there's an odd hint of 1964 about MF Doom. This quality gradually evolved between "The Gas Face," recorded in '89 when he called himself Zev Love X, and "Gas Drawls," from his '99 breakthrough Doomsday. It's not just in Doom's alter-ego references-jet-age icons like his metal-faced namesake or his other alias, Toho monster King Geedorah-but his lyrical style. He burbles like a Cosby without a pause, with the aloof beatnik intonation of Mad Magazine snappy-answer wordplay. This collaboration with underground bebop breakbeat kingpin Madlib puts Doom's four-color newsprint street rhymes where they belong-in front of a '60s New York backdrop where Jack Kirby and Stan Lee sketch storyboards at the Village Vanguard. Madlib's underwater Mingus bass wobbles like the audio track to a faded red-tint super-8, and he mixes in the occasional Stax-Volt strut ("America's Most Blunted") and lounge dirge ("Curls") for extra mod flavor. Lead single "Money Folder" swings the hardest (and weirdest): the midnight horror show electric piano riff that comprises the beat cuts out to make room for a necktie-flailing chase scene hi-hat interlude, then resumes to let Doom's Groucho pimp routine work its stuff ("Don't mind me/ I wrote this rhyme lightly over two or three heinies/ And boy was they fine, g!/ One Spanish, one Black, one Chinese"). In fact, Doom's laidback volleys of complicated yet natural assonance shine throughout. And though only five of the 22 tracks on Madvillainy last longer than 2:30-hardly sufficient space for any real clobberin' time-they're great while they last.

"For all his Frankenstein-stitched '80s R&B beats and early '90s Shaolin-raw ambience, there's an odd hint of 1964 about MF Doom. This quality gradually evolved between ""The Gas Face,"" recorded in '89 when he called himself Zev Love X, and ""Gas Drawls,"" from his '99 breakthrough Doomsday. It's not just in Doom's alter-ego references-jet-age icons like his metal-faced namesake or his other alias, Toho monster King Geedorah-but his lyrical style. He burbles like a Cosby without a pause, with the aloof beatnik intonation of Mad Magazine snappy-answer wordplay. This collaboration with underground bebop breakbeat kingpin Madlib puts Doom's four-color newsprint street rhymes where they belong-in front of a '60s New York backdrop where Jack Kirby and Stan Lee sketch storyboards at the Village Vanguard. Madlib's underwater Mingus bass wobbles like the audio track to a faded red-tint super-8, and he mixes in the occasional Stax-Volt strut (""America's Most Blunted"") and lounge dirge (""Curls"") for extra mod flavor. Lead single ""Money Folder"" swings the hardest (and weirdest): the midnight horror show electric piano riff that comprises the beat cuts out to make room for a necktie-flailing chase scene hi-hat interlude, then resumes to let Doom's Groucho pimp routine work its stuff (""Don't mind me/ I wrote this rhyme lightly over two or three heinies/ And boy was they fine, g!/ One Spanish, one Black, one Chinese""). In fact, Doom's laidback volleys of complicated yet natural assonance shine throughout. And though only five of the 22 tracks on Madvillainy last longer than 2:30-hardly sufficient space for any real clobberin' time-they're great while they last.


Tracklist

1        The Illest Villains
2        Accordion
3        Meat Grinder
4        Bistro
5        Raid
6        America's Most Blunted
7        Sickfit (Instrumental)
8        Rainbows
9        Curls
10        Do Not Fire! (Instrumental)
11        Money Folder
12        Shadows Of Tomorrow
13        Operation Lifesaver AKA Mint Test
14        Figaro
15        Hardcore Hustle
16        Strange Ways
17        Fancy Clown
18        Eye
19        Supervillain Theme (Inst.)
20        All Caps
21        Great Day Today
22        Rhinestone Cowboy

*Audio and/or tracklist may vary slightly from the CD version.

Label: SNHO
Catalog: 2065
Rel. Date: 03/23/2004
UPC: 659457206529

• Format: CD
• Handling Note: **Please allow an additional 72 hours for this item's shipment.**
• Format Detail: CD
• Released: 03/23/2004
• Genre: Rap/Hip Hop
• Internal ID: JITRE