Madvillain Madvillainy Stones Throw Let me give you some advice in listening to this album: turn it up and pay attention to it the first time or two. I made the mistake of kind of using it as background music the first time. After it finished, I said, “what the hell was that?” and almost never listened to it again. What was the problem? If you don’t pay much attention to Madvillain and familiarize yourself with DOOM’s rhyming and Madlib’s eclectic beats, you’ll really only focus in on the samples and voice-overs. With that said, let’s get on to this landmark in modern hip hop. Do you remember that day in chemistry class that you almost slept through? Where your teacher thought he’d be cool and write “the whole is equal to the sum of its parts” on the board and have you discuss it like you would a quote from Twain? Madvillainy is a strong argument for that statement. On their own, the songs are good, usually ranging from 1-3 minutes, and they showcase DOOM’s hook-less rhyming. They can tend to leave you wanting more than the two verses they gave you. However, when you hear these songs in the context of the album, it makes it that much better. Each one is another stroke of the paintbrush. And when you reach the album’s end, you get something that would probably look like Van Gough’s “Starry Night.” It’s not exactly a perfectly drawn, clear image, but more of an abstract painting that’s coherent enough to bring about a deeper pleasure by being one of the ones who “get it.” MF DOOM on his own is a force to be reckoned with. If you’ve heard anything he’s done before, you already know that. But, Madlib brings something to the table that breathes new life into DOOM. It’s nothing short of orgasmic to hear jazz reworked so well into a beat. Madlib’s skill as a DJ and producer can not be described in any number of words that my meager vocabulary could offer up. For this album, he seemed to borrow heavily from the style of jazz that you’d get from the Miles Davis Quintet, right before the fusion days. That classic acoustic jazz seems to be the perfect canvas for DOOM to paint his laid back flow. Even the guests on the album have an easy time laying their vocals over these ingenious beats. Speaking of guests, I feel obligated to tell you that Quasimoto is Madlib, and Viktor Vaughn is DOOM. With that aside, let’s get down into some specifics. “Raid,” “Great Day,” and “All Caps” will probably be the easiest to like right off the bat. And, after listening to “Great Day,” you’ll finally know what those kids on the message boards are quoting. Some cuts may take a couple listens to get in to, depending on your tastes. For myself, “America’s Most Blunted” got on my nerves initially because a pro-weed song is about as exciting to me as a colonoscopy. But, after a few listens, the subject didn’t matter, and you knew it was still a damn good song. A couple surprise songs on the album are “Strange Ways” and “Fancy Clown.” Usually, DOOM tends to just flex on tracks, but these have a pretty strong subject. The album shows a great amount of diversity, and every hip hop fan should be able to find something they enjoy. The bottom line is that if you like hip hop in any way, shape, or form, you NEED this album. It’s just that simple. Whether you like Nas, Rakim, KRS One, Mos Def, Sage Francis, RA the Rugged Man, Eminem, Wu-Tang, or even Nelly, this will blow your mind. Either that, or you have no soul. -walt 9/23/04