Madvillainy - Madvillain
Madvillainy

Madvillainy is the only album by MC/producer duo Madvillain, featuring MF DOOM rapping and Madlib producing. Despite being a heavy underground release, it made it to number 179 on the US Billboard 200, and has since been recognised as a classic album. In 2003, DOOM and Madlib (counterintuitively) foreshadowed the release on “Stepping Into Tomorrow,” from Madlib’s Shades of Blue: Madlib Invades Blue Note: Party people DOOM Here to let you know That I have no prior knowledge to any invasion Or Any invasion being planned or executed And I have no ties to Madlib Or any organizations affiliated It is a characteristic MF DOOM release, with 22 tracks of varying length, including a number of interludes and sample-based skits that add depth to the storyline. DOOM appears out of nowhere at times, rapping in his usual monotone. Madlib spoke of their process to Pitchfork in 2012: Everything was spontaneous. We worked with whatever we had at hand. If you think about it too much, it won’t work. But shit usually works out when you’re with the like-minded. DOOM’s like my super-smart cousin. We trade books and records: Sun Ra equations, biographies of Charlie Parker. Some people are born off that same energy. DOOM told an interviewer in 2011: I’m staying in L.A. and trying to get back to my children… working as fast I can without sacrificing the quality. [Madlib] would give me another CD, and I’m writing… We might stop, and he’ll burn one and listen to the beat, and that’s it… We hardly spoke. It was more through telepathy. We spoke through the music. Although a Madvillainy 2 had been rumoured for many years, Madlib told a publication in 2012 it is unlikely: I handed all the beats to DOOM years ago, but ever since he’s been in Europe, he’s been hard to get a hold of. I feel it probably won’t happen, but you never know. I can’t sit and wait on that. I did my part. DOOM’s death in October of 2020 likely closed the door on any new Madvillain releases.
Distribution of songs on Madvillainy by producer
Songs