Source: Madvillainy Album Cover / Justin Engelhardt
BOOM Moment In Hip-Hop
On this date in 2004, rapper MF Doom linked up with producer Madlib and dropped their collaborative debut called Madvillainy. This album created major waves in hip-hop, going against everything popular in the mainstream at the time, and is the main reason this album is coveted by hip-hop heads as one of the best of all time.
The combination of MF Doom’s free-flowing organic lyricism matched up with Madlib’s classic hip-hop sound driven by sampled production created the sound that was needed, but missing in the genre at that time. Some may have called this a “risk” at the time, going against the mainstream norm that was picking up heavy momentum in music in the 90’s, but to the acclaim of hip-hop fans and critics, it stood the test of time and is still considered one of the top albums to come out of hip-hop. The album received heavy praise more recently, when Pitchfork named it number 13 of all time of the top 100 albums released between 2000-2004.
Many artists fear doing something outside the mainstream comfort zone, especially back in the day, but the results speak for themselves, and Madvillainy remains a go to throwback classic for many hip-hop heads alike, and displayed to the industry that stepping out of that “comfort zone” or what’s trendy at that time is still a viable way to conduct business and proves that the true essence of hip-hop could still garner commercial success.
Source: XXL
