Madvillain (Madlib and MF DOOM) - Madvillainy ALBUM REVIEW
Yes, I am a Madlib fan. This is the second time I’ve covered the producer here, and it’ll never get old to listen to his great records. Today’s review will be all about his 2004 record Madvillainy, with none other than MF DOOM on the vocals. Funny enough, I had never sat down and listened to an MF DOOM record except for “One Beer” and “Rapp Snitch Knishes” from his album Mm.. Food, also from 2004. Other than already knowing how great of a producer Madlib is, I knew nothing going into this record. Let’s get into it and see how I thought about Madvillainy.
Madvillainy is an abstract hip-hop record. Many of the samples that are featured come from Indian and Brazilian songs, along with American soul and jazz tracks. DOOM and Madlib have so much chemistry through the entire record, and when there are some instrumental tracks or an entire track is dedicated to a feature, you can still feel DOOM’s presence over the track. Even at 22 tracks, each song was memorable in their own way. I did find there to be a couple of missteps in the tracklisting, though. Even though I liked Stacy Epps’ performance, “Eye” just seemed a little unnecessary to me. I feel the same about the Wild Child feature on “Hardcore Hustle.” Wild Child isn’t bad by any means, but compared to DOOM, he just feels awkward and out of place. Another gripe that I could have with this record is that I wish there were more jazz samples. I’m glad with what I got, but I’m one of those guys that can become immediately intoxicated by an alluring jazz sample.
I understand why MF DOOM and Madlib are such an iconic duo now. Their chemistry is off the charts on a level that I’ve never heard of, and when I think of most of the other duos that come to mind of how great they are, Madlib is one of those people. Madvillainy is an iconic record, albeit with some hiccups. Plus, I can’t get enough of Quasimoto.
8/10
Stream Madvillainy here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube Music
Madvillainy is an abstract hip-hop record. Many of the samples that are featured come from Indian and Brazilian songs, along with American soul and jazz tracks. DOOM and Madlib have so much chemistry through the entire record, and when there are some instrumental tracks or an entire track is dedicated to a feature, you can still feel DOOM’s presence over the track. Even at 22 tracks, each song was memorable in their own way. I did find there to be a couple of missteps in the tracklisting, though. Even though I liked Stacy Epps’ performance, “Eye” just seemed a little unnecessary to me. I feel the same about the Wild Child feature on “Hardcore Hustle.” Wild Child isn’t bad by any means, but compared to DOOM, he just feels awkward and out of place. Another gripe that I could have with this record is that I wish there were more jazz samples. I’m glad with what I got, but I’m one of those guys that can become immediately intoxicated by an alluring jazz sample.
I understand why MF DOOM and Madlib are such an iconic duo now. Their chemistry is off the charts on a level that I’ve never heard of, and when I think of most of the other duos that come to mind of how great they are, Madlib is one of those people. Madvillainy is an iconic record, albeit with some hiccups. Plus, I can’t get enough of Quasimoto.
8/10
Stream Madvillainy here
Spotify
Apple Music
YouTube Music
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