Madvillainy

Madvillainy
Grayscale photo of Doom's face behind his metal mask, with the word "MADVILLAIN" in pixelated black font at the top left corner and a small orange square at the top right corner.
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 23, 2004
Recorded2002–2004
Studio
Genre
Length46:08
LabelStones Throw
Producer
Madvillain chronology
Madvillainy
(2004)
Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix
(2008)
Madlib chronology
Champion Sound
(with J Dilla as Jaylib)
(2003)
Madvillainy
(2004)
Stevie
(2004)
MF Doom chronology
Vaudeville Villain
(2003)
Madvillainy
(2004)
Special Herbs + Spices Volume 1
(2004)
Instrumental release
Madvillainy Instrumentals
Singles from Madvillainy
  1. "Money Folder"
    Released: November 11, 2003
  2. "All Caps"
    Released: February 2004

Madvillainy is the only studio album by American hip hop duo Madvillain, consisting of British-American rapper MF Doom and American record producer Madlib. 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.[1] 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.[2] It has since been widely regarded as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time in general, being 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,[3] at 365 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[4] and at 18 on Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time.[5]

  1. ^ "Mad Skills: Madlib In Scratch Magazine | Stones Throw Records". www.stonesthrow.com.
  2. ^ Strauss, Matthew (December 31, 2020). "MF DOOM Dead at 49". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  3. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 500-401". NME. October 21, 2013.
  4. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "The 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. June 7, 2022.