The New Classics #43: Madvillainy, Madvillain

Title: Madvillainy
Artist: Madvillain
Year: 2004
Label: Stones Throw

No matter how hard we all try to deny these things, it looks like the era of the classic hip-hop long-player is all but dead. As the 2000s went on, this became increasingly clear, as mainstream hip-hop drifted away from coherent end-to-end albums. The Illmatic's and Return Of The Wu-Tang's of the 1990s have few comparable works from the past decade. Yet, hiding amidst much of this rap wreckage, left-of-center rap flourished, providing some of the most satisfying and often surprising albums of the day. Most iconic of these underdog classics is Madvillainy, the first and, to date, only album by Madvillain, a collaboration between MF DOOM and Madlib. Both veterans of the alternative/indie rap scene, these two accomplished artists joined forces to create an album totally at odds with the prevailing trends in hip-hop and rap, yet still fun and innovative in ways that continue to endure.

The first thing you notice about Madvillainy is the song lengths. Ten of the twenty-two tracks are under two minutes, while only four exceed three minutes. Madvillain tracks feel like commercials, cramming entire concepts and messages into compact little nuggets, ready for easy consumption. These aren't the goofy skits you find on many rap albums; these are fully realized songs, boiled down to their most basic elements. "Accordion" fits a crisp beat, a woozy accordion sample and DOOM's barbed takedown verse into just one minute and fifty-three seconds. Madlib's jazzy samples and snippets of dialogue stolen from ads and cartoons are unique and complex, yet never overstay their welcome. The music and beats can't become repetitive, simply because they don't have time. Once you factor in DOOM's ability to create vivid scenes with a bare minimum of lyrics, you realize what a lean, efficient album you're dealing with.

Yet, for all this control and restraint, Madvillainy is comically casual, resembling a hazy night spent getting high with buddies, while the TV rambles endlessly in the background. Madlib's retro samples and DOOM's drawling, associative lyrical style don't sound like the results of clear minds. In case the listener has any doubts, one of the album's longest tracks is "America's Most Blunted," a loving ode to the stoned lifestyle, punctuated by the sounds of bong hits and coughing. The album is also united by a vague concept of "the mad villains," a cartoon duo of supervillains who diabolically threatened society. This self-mythologizing is nothing new to DOOM, who performs wearing a metal Dr. Doom mask (just check out that album cover). However, rather than feeling like the product of bloated egos (Kanye, I'm looking at you), DOOM and Madlib just sound like fun guys, casting themselves as lovable antiheroes who just like to smoke up and make wacky, cloudy music.

Upon its release, virtually everybody loved Madvillainy. Its universal acclaim actually bordered on frightening, with even The New Yorker getting in on the action. Who knew that a fuzzy album of stoned rap vignettes, punctuated by vinyl crackle and superhero dialogue would be the thing that would unite music critics the world over? As the years have gone by, it seems to have been overshadowed by other classics, resulting in its impressive but not eye-popping place down here at #43. Yet, it wouldn't have the same charm without some of that underdog swagger to it. Rather than being overly earnest or just plain pretentious, like much of indie rap can be, Madvillainy is friendly, warm and inclusive, rewarding those who just put it on and let the calm silliness fly by.

Next up on The New Classics: Person Pitch, Panda Bear