Sunday, March 04, 2012

Wiz's Album of the Week #4: Madvillain - "Madvillainy"

Hello Oh. Globe readers! Wiz here again with my album of the week...number 4! Basically, each week I review a hip-hop album that I really love - either new or old - and you guys leave comments on how you feel about said album! It's a discussion, so it involves your participation as well! (Sorry about no AOTW last week. I was really busy.)

Anyways, this weeks album is one of the most overlooked albums in Hip-Hop. It's not underrated by any means, but it just seems like people leave it out of the discussion when it comes to the greatest albums in Hip-Hop, and Madvillainy should no doubt be in that discussion. Now I don't know about you guys, but when I first listened to the album over a year ago...I wasn't that impressed. I just didn't get it. The production seemed overly abstract to me, and DOOM seemed to be so off beat it hurt me to listen.

Boy, was I blind in the ears back then. Fast forward to about September of last year. I decided to throw the album back on because why not? I might like it now. Not only did I like it, I was in LOVE with it. To the point where one of the songs almost drove me to tears. Not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. That's how beautiful the music was to me.

Let's move on to the actual album though. If you didn't know already, Madvillainy is a collaboration album between one of my favorite MC's MF DOOM, and one of the best producers around, Madlib. Together they make...Madvillain! Madvillainy was their very first project, and some call it MF DOOM's best project, all things considered.

What I love most about the album is the stray away from contemporary song structure. There are little, if any hooks. Only of couple of (real) features. Most of the tracks are under 3 minutes. What remains is an amazing combination of expert lyricism from DOOM (he makes rapping sound SO easy) and top notch "mathematical" (as I like to call it) production by Madlib. You'd think they have perfect chemistry, and they do, but in a recent interview MF DOOM did with Red Bull (watch it here if you wish), DOOM stated that he and Madlib barely even spoke during the recording process. Madlib would be upstairs making beats, and when he finished a few, he would go downstairs and hand them to DOOM, and DOOM would rap over them. That's it. That's what Madvilliainy boils down to. Just amazing raps and amazing beats. No flashy hooks or radio singles. And as far as I'm concerned, it worked out to be something very special.


 Very special indeed. (This almost brought me to tears man. No lie)

If you want to listen to Madvillainy in full, check it out on Spotify here!

Previous Album of The Week #3

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Great album

Anonymous said...

is this wiz khalifa or just some random fool named wiz?

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