Madvillainy - Album

Frogtoon Music Album Info: Madvillainy

Published: 03 Mar 2023, 06:35

Madvillainy Is The Legendary Collaboration Between Rapper MF DOOM And Producer Madlib Under The Group Name Madvillain. It Is Considered One Of The Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Ever. It Was Released On March 23 2004 On 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 Ranked In Various Publications' Lists Of All-Time Greatest Albums Including At 411 On NME's List Of The 500 Greatest Albums Of All-Time At 365 On Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time And At 18 On Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time. MF DOOM And Madlib Were Off The Radar To Many In 2003 But The Announcement Of A Collaboration And The First Track “America's Most Blunted” Brought All The Quiet Fans Out Of The Woodwork And Led To A Controversial And Highly Acclaimed Album Release In Early 2004 That Helped Expose The Two Artists To A Large Audience For The First Time. While The Producer And MC Both Did What Was Completely Natural To Them They Turned The Formula Of Popular Rap At The Time On Its Head Creating An Album That Is Both Unique And True To Its Hip-Hop Influences. 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 Who Did Not Know About Madlib And Stones Throw At The Time 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 "The First Thing His Manager Did Was Get Me In My Bedroom Which Was Also The Office And Corner Me About The 1 500 Bucks. I Realized That If She Was In Here Then DOOM Was With And The Longer I Kept Up This Charade With Her The Longer They’ll Vibe And Maybe It All Might Work Out." 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. 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 Wasn't 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 Those Were The Early Days Of Internet Leaks And We Thought It Would Completely Ruin Sales. People Were Approaching DOOM And Madlib At Shows To Tell Them How Much They Liked The Album So They Were Like 'Fuck It I'm Done.' Madlib Started On Other Stuff And DOOM Well You Never Know What He's Doing. 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 To Allow 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. The Album Consists Of 22 Songs Most Of Which Are Short Under 3 Minutes And Contain No Hooks Or Choruses. 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 Multi-Syllable Rhymes Internal Rhymes Alliteration Assonance And Holorimes. Music Critics Also Noted The 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" Allows For A Smooth Listen. 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 "Back Then 2003 DOOM Didn't Really Have Public Image. Hip-Hop Heads Knew He Wore A Mask That He'd Been In KMD A Decade Earlier But He Really Was A Mystery. So I Really Wanted To Get A Shot Of Him On The Cover Just To Make A Definitive 'DOOM Cover'. Specifically I Was Thinking Of A Picture Of This Man Who Happened To Wear A Mask For Some Reason As Opposed To 'a Picture Of A Mask'. I Don't Know If The Distinction Would Occur To Anyone Else But To Me It Was A Big Deal. I Mean Who The Hell Goes Around With A Metal Mask What's His Story?" 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. Madvillainy Influenced A Generation Of Artists. Among Some Of Them Are Rappers Joey Badass The Late Capital STEEZ Bishop Nehru Tyler The Creator Earl Sweatshirt Danny Brown Kirk Knight Producer And Rapper Flying Lotus Producer And DJ Cashmere Cat Neo-Soul Collective Jungle Indie Rock Band Cults And Radiohead Singer Thom Yorke. The Singer Bilal Names It Among His 25 Favorite Albums. According To Earl Sweatshirt Madvillainy Influenced His Generation The Same Way Wu-Tang Clan Influenced The Rappers Of The 1990s With Their Album "Enter The Wu-Tang 36 Chambers ". In 2009 A Video Of Mos Def Working On His Album "The Ecstatic" In A Studio Was Released. In The Video He Praised DOOM Saying That "he Rhymes As Weird As I Feel" And Recited Some Of DOOM's Lines Including The Ones From Madvillainy. He Added "Dude I Swear To God When I Saw That Madvillain Record I Bought It On Vinyl. I Ain't Have A Record Player. I Bought It On Vinyl Just To Stare At The Album. I Stared At It And I Just Kept Going 'I Understand You'." In 2015 In Honor Of The Release Of All-New All-Different Marvel Comics Line And To Pay Homage To Classic And Contemporary Hip Hop Albums Marvel Released Variant Covers Inspired By These Albums. One Of Them Was Variant Cover Of The Mighty Thor Comics Based On Madvillainy Cover. It Used Grayscale Image Of Jane Foster's Face Behind The Metal Mask With A Picture Of Mjolnir In A Small Orange Square On Top Right Corner And THE MIGHTY THOR Text In Pixelated Font On Top Left.