Madvillainy

Madvillainy
Studio album by Madvillain
Released	March 23, 2004
Recorded	April 2002 - October 2003
Studio	Bionic (Los Angeles, CA) The Bomb Shelter (Glendale, CA) Doom's Crib (Atlanta, GA)
Genre	Alternative hip hop, Jazz rap, Experimental hip hop, Underground hip hop
Length	46:08
Label	Stones Throw Records
Producer	Madlib, MF DOOM, Peanut Butter Wolf (exec.)

Madvillainy is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Madvillain, released in March 23, 2004 on Stones Throw Records. Recording sessions took place at Bionic in Los Angeles, The Bomb Shelter in Glendale, CA and at Doom's Crib in Atlanta, GA from April 2002 to October 2003. Production was completely handled by Madlib, with the exception of "The Illest Villains" was produced by Madlib and MF DOOM. Includes guest appearances by M.E.D., Quasimoto, Wildchild and Stacy Epps. It received universal acclaim from major music critics for its unique and innovative approach to hip hop; short tracks, abstract lyrics, few choruses and a sound generally unfriendly to commercial radio. 

The album achieved moderate commercial success, peaking at #179 on the Billboard 200, and attracted much attention from media outlets not usually covering hip hop music.

Background

During 2001, MF DOOM had partially lived in Kennesaw, located in Atlanta, Georgia, where a manager, Egon, of Madlib's record label Stones Throw Records had also lived. After DOOM had found this out, he asked for a few beats from Madlib. Around three weeks later, Egon had called Madlib, who already had interest in working with DOOM, saying that DOOM had wanted to work with Madlib. Shortly after, one of DOOM's managers had asked Stones Throw to send DOOM plane tickets in $1,500. Despite Stones Throw not being able to afford the money at the time, they still sent the plane tickets and flew DOOM out to California. Soon after arrival, DOOM's manager had started demanding money from Egon while DOOM visited Madlib. When asked about the confrontation, Egon replied "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 [Madlib], and the longer I kept up this charade with her, the longer they'll vibe and maybe it all might work out." Eventually DOOM had started working with Madlib and Stones Throw found the money to pay DOOM.

Work on Madvillainy started in 2002, where Madlib had made one hundred beats in only a few weeks, with some being used on Madvillainy or later albums. Most work on the album was done in Madlib's personal recording studio, The Bomb Shelter. Whenever they didn't work on the album, they would get high off mushrooms and marijuana or eat Thai food. In 2003, Madlib had went to Brazil to participate in a Redbull Music Academy lecture while also crate digging for obscure records. In this lecture, Madvillainy debuted for the first time with the track America's Most Blunted being played. While in Brazil, the beats for songs such as Raid, Rhinestone Cowboy and Strange Ways were made by using a Fisher Price turntable, a cassette deck, and an SP-303 drum machine. Disaster later struck however, when someone had stolen the CDs of tracks from Madlib and uploaded them onto the internet, with it later being officially rereleased in 2008 as a boxset bonus for the remix album Madvillainy 2. Differences in tracks such as naming, production, and writing were apparent. After the leak, work on the album was discontinued and the duo had went on to work on other projects, such as Take Me To Your Leader by King Geedorah (MF DOOM) and Champion Sound (Madlib with J Dilla) Luckily, Madvillainy was revived with many changes, such as MF DOOM's vocals being more calm and multiple rerecordings of the album. The outro Rhinestone Cowboy was created after Stone's Throw had requested for a "proper ending" to the album. Along with these changes, Madlib was asked to change certain instrumentals, but in defiance he lied about forgetting the samples in order to keep them.

Legacy

Madvillainy went on to become a hip-hop pop culture icon, with it being used in Adult Swim's The Boondocks and their famed bumpers. MF DOOM's rapping had inspired many artists such as Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, and the late Capital Steez who rapped over the All Caps instrumental in his mixtape AmeriKKKan Koruption. Songs such as All Caps garnered so much attention that figure manufacturer KidRobot making sets of figurines to celebrate the album.

Rolling Stone listed Madvillainy at #365 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" in 2020.

Track listing

All songs produced by Madlib, except for "The Illest Villains", produced by Madlib and MF DOOM.

No.	Title	Performer(s)	Writer(s)	Time
1.	"The Illest Villains"	-	Dumile, Jackson	1:55
2.	"Accordion"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	1:59
3.	"Meat Grinder"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	2:12
4.	"Bistro"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	1:08
5.	"Raid"	MF DOOM, M.E.D.	Dumile, Jackson, Rodriguez	2:31
6.	"America's Most Blunted"	MF DOOM, Lord Quas	Dumile, Jackson	3:54
7.	"Sickfit (Inst.)"	-	Jackson	1:22
8.	"Rainbows"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	2:52
9.	"Curls"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	1:36
10.	"Do Not Fire! (Inst.)"	-	Jackson	0:53
11.	"Money Folder"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	3:03
12.	"Shadows of Tomorrow"	Madlib, Lord Quas	Dumile, Jackson	2:36
13.	"Operation Lifesaver aka Mint Test"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	1:30
14.	"Figaro"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	2:26
15.	"Hardcore Hustle"	Wildchild	Brown, Dumile, Jackson	1:22
16.	"Strange Ways"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	1:52
17.	"Fancy Clown"	MF DOOM, Viktor Vaughn	Dumile, Jackson	1:56
18.	"Eye"	Stacy Epps	Dumile, Jackson	1:58
19.	"Supervillain Theme (Inst.)"	-	Jackson	0:53
20.	"All Caps"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	2:10
21.	"Great Day"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson, Lord Scotch 79	2:17
22.	"Rhinestone Cowboy"	MF DOOM	Dumile, Jackson	4:00

Notes

• Track 17 features additional vocals performed by Allah's Reflection

Samples

The Illest Villians

• "Beach Trip" by Morton Stevens
• "Contrast" by Sun Ra

Accordion

• "Experience" by Daedelus

Meat Grinder

• "Sleeping In a Jar" by The Mothers of Invention
• "Hula Rock" by Lew Howard & the All-Stars

Bistro

• "Second to None" by Atlantic Starr

Raid

• "Nardis (Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival)" by Bill Evans
• "America Latina" by Osmar Milito & Quarteto Forma
• "Computer Games" by George Clinton

America's Most Blunted

• "Ninety-Nine and a Half" by Fever Tree
• "Creativity" by Jack Margolis

Sickfit

• "Family Affair" by The Generation Gap

Rainbows

• "Blues & Pants" by James Brown
• "Kelly" by William Loose, Stu Phillips and Marvin Elling
• "Psycho Brahim" by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter

Curls

• "Airport Love Theme" by Waldir Calmon

Do Not Fire!

• "Mithi Mithi Ankhiyon Se Dil Bhar De" by Kishore Kumar
• "Dhalsim" by Yoko Shimomura

Money Folder

• "Soul Turn Around" by Freddie Hubbard
• "Trailer" from The Raven (1963)

Shadows of Tomorrow

• "Hindu Hoon Main Na Musalman Hoon" by R.D. Burman
• "Space Is The Place" by Sun Ra
• "Dead" by Carolyn Sullivan

Operation Lifesaver AKA Mint Test

• "Prepare Yourself" by George Duke

Figaro

• "In The Beginning" and "Jeannine" by Dr. Lonnie Smith

Hardcore Hustle

• "Sing A Simple Song" by Diana Ross, The Temptations and The Supremes

Strange Ways

• "Funny Ways" by Gentle Giant
• "Symphony In Slang" by Tex Avery

Fancy Clown

• "That Ain't the Way You Make Love" by Z.Z. Hill

Eye

• "So Good" by The Whispers

Supervillain Theme

• "Adormeceu" by O Terco
• "Cold Gettin' Dumb" by Just Ice

All Caps

• "Bumpin' Bus Stop" by Thunder and Lightning
• "Ironside" by Quincy Jones
• "Sometimes I Rhyme Slow" by Nice & Smooth

Great Day

• "How Can You Believe" by Stevie Wonder

Rhinestone Cowboy

• "Mariana, Mariana" and "Molambo" by Maria Bethania