In the store | Madvillain – Madvillainy 2LP

The vinyl release of MF DOOM & Madlib's Madvillainy has been out of print for some time now, but it is out of print no longer.

It's been a decade since MF DOOM and Madlib got together for this album, meeting for the first time at the house in Los Angeles where Stones Throw operated from, and where Madlib worked from a studio in a former bomb shelter. They recorded two demos the first week they met – "Figaro" and "Meat Grinder," and then a handful more a short time later.

Madlib first patched these demos together for personal listening while on a trip to Brazil. While there in Sao Paulo, Madlib created more music which would eventually land on the album, using the only equipment available: a portable record player, an SP 303 and a borrowed cassette deck. It was also on this trip where the demo cut of the album leaked, an experience which soured the artistic process for both the producer and the MC to the extend that it took about a year to coax them back to finishing the record.

The album release in March 2004 was both controversial and highly acclaimed, helping expose the two artists to a large audience for the first time. Artistically, Madlib and DOOM both did was what completely natural to them – obscure lyrics, dusty beats, ignoring hooks, weaving themes that bounced unexpectedly from dark to comedy, all produced with a disregard to the big studio sound. It was the antithesis of the pop rap formula, and yet effortlessly soulful and true to it's hip-hop influences.

Photos | The Making of Madvillainy by Egon and Eric Coleman

Read | Behind the Madvlillain Album Cover Jeff Jank interview, Egotripland.com

Read | Doom's Day "Madvillain Redeems the Pretentions of Independent Hip-Hop," by Sascha Frere-Jones, Newyorker.com

PS … Also released were the Madvillainy Instrumentals; the 12-inch Money Folder/America's Most Blunted, including the non-album "Money Folder Remix"; another 12-inch with non-album tracks, Curls & All Caps; the fan club 45 "One Beer" which later appeared on Doom's solo album; "Monkey Suit" from 2005; Madlib's excellent Madvillainy Remix from 2008 which came out in The Box; and a pair of remix collections, one by Four Tet.

So where's the long-delayed Madvillainy followup? We'll get back to you when DOOM & Madlib get back to us on that.



