Madvillain - Madvillainy (2LP) - 45RPM 20th Anniversary

Crate diggers love a good origin story, and Madvillainy has one that still feels mythical. In March 2004, Stones Throw released the only album by Madvillain, the unlikely dream team of MF DOOM and Madlib. A rough demo leaked the year before and the pair hit pause, reworking ideas until the thing felt right. The finished record is short, punchy and totally singular, like a stack of underground comics come to life, all clipped scenes and sharp cuts.

Drop the needle and “Accordion” sets the mood with a wheezing loop and DOOM sounding like he is confiding over a late-night radio frequency. “Meat Grinder” lurches with a dusty bassline and chopped drums that never quite resolve, which is the point. Then “Raid” brings MED into the room, the first of a few well-placed guests who feel like characters rather than cameos. Quasimoto turns up for “America’s Most Blunted” and “Shadows of Tomorrow”, the latter lifting lines from Sun Ra to give the album a cosmic backbone. Little instrumentals like “Sickfit” and “Supervillain Theme” keep the pace lean, so there is no bloat, just momentum.

Part of the magic is how conversational DOOM sounds while juggling jaw-dropping internal rhyme. “Figaro” remains a clinic in timing and syllable play, all delivered with a smirk. “Operation Lifesaver aka Mint Test” is basically a public service announcement about bad breath that somehow becomes riveting. He shifts masks without breaking stride too. “Fancy Clown” credits his Viktor Vaughn persona and flips the script into a bruised relationship song, petty and heartbreaking at once. The closer, “Rhinestone Cowboy”, wraps it up without a chorus or a grand finale, just DOOM narrating his way out the side door.

Madlib’s production is the other half of the high-wire act. He stitches together jazz snippets, library oddities and cartoon dust, but never to show off. The beats feel lived-in, like they were found in the lining of an op shop jacket. You can hear how these fragments guide DOOM to unexpected punchlines and detours. The album was recorded largely at Bomb Shelter Studios in Los Angeles, and it sounds like a bunker, a self-contained world where everything clanks, rattles and clicks in time. Even the cover feels right. Jeff Jank’s stark design frames Eric Coleman’s photo of DOOM’s mask, a reminder that mystique can be clear-eyed rather than fussy.

Two songs broke out as calling cards. “Money Folder” introduced the project with a knotty rhythm and a muttered swagger, while “All Caps” arrived with an animated video by James Reitano that leaned into the comic-book aesthetic. Both remain fan favourites for good reason. They are catchy without being obvious, clever without getting tangled, and they distil the album’s quick-cut approach into something you can hum on the tram.

Madvillainy landed to raves and has only grown in stature. It pops up on best-of lists whenever people tally the great hip hop albums of the 2000s, and critics still point to it when they talk about how underground rap shifted the conversation. On Metacritic it earned universal acclaim, which tracks with how fans talk about it twenty years on. Yet the record never feels preserved behind glass. It still sounds scrappy, funny and curious, as if you could add another little interlude and it would slot right in.

If you are hunting for Madvillain vinyl, there is a good chance it will be filed next to DOOM’s solo work in a Melbourne record store, and it is one of those sleeves that seems to leave the racks as soon as it arrives. The Stones Throw pressings are well regarded, and the album’s short, sharp tracks really bloom on wax. If you prefer to buy Madvillain records online, keep an eye on restocks and repress announcements, because demand spikes whenever a new generation discovers “All Caps”. There is only one Madvillain release, so talking about Madvillain albums on vinyl is really just talking about this one, and how essential it feels sitting next to your other favourites. For heads in Australia, it is a staple that sits neatly alongside local hip hop classics on the same shelf, a reminder that the spirit of DIY, crate-dug production and sly storytelling crosses borders as easily as a good breakbeat.

Madvillainy rewards repeat listens, late-night or first thing, headphones or speakers. It is tight, funny and a little mysterious, and it never wastes a second. If you are building a collection of hip hop essentials on wax, this belongs in the stack, right there with your other lifers and the vinyl records Australia scene keeps in steady rotation.