Madvillain

First came Dr.Octagon. Then there was Deltron 3030. Next was the still unthinkable Quasimoto. Now, years later, the drugged-out hip-hopera genre continues with MF Doom and Madlib’s Madvillainy. Our latest cloud-floating hero, Madvillain, again sees the pairing of two of hip-hop’s most eccentric characters attempting to add a little spice to an otherwise insipid genre that rarely bothers to puts it’s pants on. It all traces back to 1994, when The RZA pieced together a dark concept album that played through like a bad dream with the Wu-Tang Clan’s debut, Enter the 36 Chambers. RZA’s efforts wrote the book for progressive hip-hop, redefining the possibilities for the genre and, in turn, opening the doors for hip-hop as a serious genre to watch. 

Sadly, the last 10 years haven’t seen too many advancements in the hip-hop world. While there are a lot of blossoming experimental hip-hop artists in the underground music scene right now, rarely does an artist of any real marketable value emerge with an album of genuine artistic value. After The Automator ditched his ambitious Octagon/Deltron nightmares for a more commercial stance, San Francisco’s Madlib stepped in with his own bizarre fairy tale on 2001’s The Unseen, a concept album about his Quasimoto character’s psychedelic adventures. Three years later, Madlib returns as the musical half of Madvillain, his newest character voiced by the underground legend and notoriously theatrical MF Doom.

Similar to the format of the Quasimoto album, Madvillainy is stretched out over 22 short, incessant, soulful tracks of jazzy loops and deeply produced beats. With his Yesterdays New Quintet and Blue Note projects, Madlib proved himself to be one of the most talented producers around; Madvillainy firmly assures the legend by effortlessly blowing away all of his past work. With Madvillainy, Madlib has perfected his sound and likely produced his signature album.

Daniel Dumile, Zev Love X, Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, and so on. MF Doom is constantly changing his identity in an attempt to keep his music and approach fresh. Often sounding like a fully developed Big Daddy Kane on ‘shrooms, MF Doom kicks back as Madvillain, telling stories of his stoned New York City adventures as the worlds most feared villain. The running villain concept isn’t bulletproof; Madlib and MF Doom often lose sight of their story and focus on overall character development, much like Prince Paul’s 1999 concept album, A Prince Among Thieves. Overall, Doom’s city stories and crime narratives fall second to his vocal style which matches Madlib’s backdrops as well as could be imagined.

The jazzy, comic book-styled album is possibly the best pure summer hip-hop album since Doggystyle, only growing better with each listen and never sounding stale. This isn’t a perfect album by any means; there are scattered holes and dry moments that don’t measure up to the high standards set by the albums core tracks. In the end, Madvillainy does the hip-hopera genre proud and should prove to be the best album of it’s kind. Forget the hype about Madvillainy being a “drug album”; it’s just a good old-fashioned fantasty.    10/10

Written by G. William Locke