Madvillainy - Madvillain (2004)
a run through four decades of the hip hop underground
Madvillain was a team-up between producer Madlib and the inimitable MF DOOM, two guys who were foundational in the wildly creative underground scene of the aughts.
Like a lot of rap records from the era, the sounds are sampled but twisted and processed into something often much more sinister sounding than the original tracks. It’s held together thematically with samples of an old film about cult villains that show up throughout.
On top of these tracks, DOOM let’s loose a seemingly endless flow of free association rhymes that still manage to tell a story or get his point across.
Tracks I Liked
Accordion - a classic. based on a sample of Daedelus’ track Experience. The sound is actually a Harmonium, not an accordion, but DOOM never got the memo I guess
America’s Most Blunted - just my two cents: I think the bassline is actually a continuation of the vocal sample at the beginning. It’s turning spoken words into musical tonality, not unlike Steve Reich does in his piece Different Trains
All Caps - a lyrical and production masterclass
