Madvillainy
Studio album by Madvillain
Released	March 24, 2004
Recorded	circa 2002-2004
Genre	Alternative rap
Length	46:50
Label	Stones Throw Records
Producer	Madlib MF DOOM
Professional reviews
Allmusic 2004 Robert Christgau (A-) 2004 HipHopDX.com 2004 MVRemix link Pitchfork Media (9.4/10) 2004 Prefix link PopMatters (favorable) 2004 RapReviews.com 2004 Rolling Stone 2004 Stylus Magazine (A-) 2004 Tiny Mix Tapes 2004 URB April 2004 (p. 86)
Madvillain chronology
Madvillainy (2004) Madvillainy 2 - The Madlib Remix (2008)
Madlib chronology
Champion Sound (2003) Madvillainy (2004) MF Doom chronology Vaudeville Villain (2003) Madvillainy (2004) Venomous Villain (2004)

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 24, 2004 on Stones Throw Records to overwhelmingly positive reviews.¹

Album information

Madvillainy was praised for its unique and innovative approach to hip hop: short songs, recondite lyrics, few choruses and a sound which was generally unfriendly to commercial radio. The album nevertheless 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.

Three videos were made for the album: "All Caps", "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion". "All Caps" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" appear on the DVD "Stones Throw 101" along with a fan-made video for "Shadows Of Tomorrow" as a hidden feature. A 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 and a Boss SP303 sampler² 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.

The album's cover, designed by Jeff Jank, is a homage to Madonna's first album.³

Reception

Rolling Stone (p.146) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[T]wo of the funniest mouths in underground hip-hop."

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."

Track listing

All tracks written by MF DOOM (D. Dumile — LORD DIHOO MUSIC, ASCAP) and Madlib (O. Jackson Jr. - Madlib Invazion, BMI), except:

• "Sickfit", "Do Not Fire!" and "Supervillain Theme" written by Madlib
• "Raid" written by MF DOOM, Madlib and M.E.D. (N. Rodriguez)
• "Hardcore Hustle" written by Madlib and Wildchild (J. Brown — KRB Music, BMI)
• "Great Day" written by MF DOOM, Madlib and Lord Scotch 79

Credits

• Executive producer: Peanut Butter Wolf
• Project coordinator: Egon
• Project consultant: Miranda Jane
• Mastering: Dave Cooley
• Engineering: Dave Cooley, Madlib, MF Doom
• Mixing: Dave Cooley
• Design: Jeff Jank
• Illustration: James Reitano

Notes

• "All Caps" can also be found in QuickTime format when the Madvillainy disc is placed in a computer.
• On The Boondocks episode titled Let's Nab Oprah, three songs from Madvillainy are used: "Raid", "All Caps", and "Strange Ways". Also the episode Wingmen features "Fancy Clown".
• During its run, a snippet of "Do Not Fire" was played prior to opening sequence of the hip-hop-influenced chanbara anime Samurai Champloo. The clip was played to the tune of a revolving image of the show's logo — a vinyl record — giving off the illusion of scratching.
• At the end of an MTV special for the movie "V for Vendetta", the titular character interrupts the show, ending his message with "and remember, all caps when you spell the man's name."
• Viktor Vaughn's anger in the song "Fancy Clown" is directed not only to his fictional girlfriend but to DOOM himself ("Don't make me have to pound his tin crown face in"}, {"That's you if you want a dude who wears a mask all day"}, ironically an alter-ego of Vaughn himself (Daniel Dumile).
• The Madvillain track "Raid" is a part of Thom Yorke's Celebrity Playlist on iTunes as well as the Quasimoto track "Closer", which featured DOOM.
• The Madvillain track "Money Folder", was featured in the film, Bomb The System.
• Beats for "Strange Ways" and "Rhinestone Cowboy" were partially produced in a hotel room in Brazil, late 2002.⁵
• The song "Rainbows" was covered by rapper Mos Def and the Hypnotic Brass Ensenble at least once, during a concert soundcheck which can be seen on Youtube.com[1]

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Rerelease

The album was rereleased by Stones Throw in 2008, containing a complete remix of the album by Madlib and other bonuses.

References

External links

• Madvillainy at Metacritic