My Personal Documentation Of Me Listening To madvillainy For The 1st Time
The first time I dabbled into MF DOOM’s music was on the critically acclaimed Madvillainy project with West coast producer Madlib. DOOM is a name I often came across before then on various sites and especially Rapreviews.com where I spent countless hours reading album reviews and even printing them out on paper for keepsakes.
I still recall the day my older friend Brother Lee brought the CD to our(shared it with my bro and Rae) quarters back in University. He came with a bunch of new releases at the time, ranging from RZA’s Birth Of A Prince, Kanye’s debut, and Madvillainy. He was pretty much insistent that we listen to it before anything and this was coming from a staunch Wu head so we knew it had to be that special.
On first listen, I was completely blown away by much of the off-kilter, stream of consciousness flow, concepts, and of course the beats. These two strayed from the standard and set a new precedence for rap as a genre. They took a formula, broke it down, and pieced it back up in their own unique way.
From the cinematic skits that contained obscure films, cartoons, and even video games (“Do Not Fire”) to the range of the selection of beats. There was just so much to unpack at the time. “Accordion” will forever be catchy even without a chorus, DOOM always makes his verses engaging with deft rhyme schemes and vivid lyrics that would make you smirk. Lines like
“Giving y’all nothing but the lick like two broads
Got more lyrics than the church got “Ooh, Lords”
still, give me the giggles.
I need to reiterate once more that Madlib did a helluva work on this one and looking at the instrumental skits takes me back to the first time I heard them. “Sickfit”, the aforementioned “Do Not Fire” and “Supervillain Theme” all give off different moods and it’s a far cry from just randomly slapping sounds together.
“Sickfit” which is my favorite of the beats had me rethinking my blossoming production career back then. The thick drums and dusty gritty sample just give me the chills every time and I remember writing a verse to it back in the day but tore it up real quick afterward.
“Do Not Fire”
The Street Fighter samples were the first thing that got me and the exotic sample as well. It had this dark foreboding mood straight out of those old Bollywood flicks.
“Supervillain Theme”
The last of the instrumentals on the project and while it clocks under the 1-minute length, it sure packs a punch. Madlib drives the beat with a scenic layered sample chop and crunchy drums that only switch up when the rousing drum fills come in to do damage. The element I noticed is the way he keeps it simple but still compelling all the way.
To cut the long story short, I was immediately hooked on whatever he did afterwards and even proceed to digest his older releases.
What else can I say but Thank you to the one and only Super villain,
May the world never ever forget your influence and so shall it be known
All caps when you spell the man’s name!
