Madvillainy

Madvillain is producer, beat scientist and man-of-many-pseudonym's Madlib and underground hip hop mystery man MF DOOM. 'Madvillainy' is their debut as the duo and the first time these two have worked in the studio together.

Madlib has quietly gone about his business for years now. His business being making outstanding, challenging, jazz flavoured hip hop and hip hop flavoured jazz far from the maddening crowd of commercial music. From hip hop trio Lootpack to alter-ego Quasimoto, his "modern" jazz quintet Yesterday's New Quintet (comprised of five fictional players but guided on all fronts by Madlib using a sampler, drum machine and live instruments) to his 'other' underground hip hop duo Jaylib and his Blue Note remix project 'Shades Of Blue' he has consistently pushed boundaries.

Little is known about the incredibly private MF DOOM other than he also revels in a myriad of confusing nom de plumes such as King Gheedorah, Vikter Vaughan, Zeb Love, KMD et al. Whatever the name, 'Madvillainy' is yet again proof of why DOOM's unique delivery, superb lyricism, and intricately woven storylines make him one of hip hop's most intriguing MCs.

The true charm of the album? 1) Madlib's ability to utilize his diverse selection of samples: sometimes they bleed into one another, lying atop each other like double exposures while other times a straight ahead hip hop beat turns on its head, becoming an old jazz standard, and 2) DOOM takes deep pleasure in words, alliteration, internal rhymes, and pure sound - celebrating the language of music and the music of language. Plus he has more soul than a sock with a hole.

Awkward and beautiful, accessible and idiosyncratic, catchy but soaked in noise, lighthearted but full of abstractions, 'Madvillainy' embraces so many facets that make it much more than just another hip hop record. This is nothing short of an essential piece of work. An exciting, enticing and rewarding step for music, let alone underground hip hop.