 |
 |
 |
 7. Stankonia
|
 |
We can guess what a good deal of you are saying to yourselves: “Wait, some obscure, underground hop album made by some weirdo wearing a mask and producer that has an alter-ego that sounds like he sucks helium…this is the new millennium’s greatest album?”
Fact is, we can dig the incredulity and skepticism or whatever else, but no single album, other than D’Angelo’s Voodoo inspired a consensus of awe on the level of Madvillainy. Brolic said of this masterpiece, marrying the new millenniums best emcee with the new millennium’s most creative producer, “I think what DOOM does to Madlib’s beats is illegal in, like, 48 states.” Thesis, the crew’s lyric professor took the fawning to giddy levels when appraising MF DOOM as an emcee: “This dude is the greatest artist of the new millenni. He is music filled with supreme intelligence, overall talent, and unlimited imagination. He is the only dude since the new millenni that has advanced the emcee. If hop didn’t die, this would be the standard to which we compared all great emcees henceforth. He is the only new artist in hop that is better than the great emcees that came before him, such as the case with Nas and Rakim, and Rakim and Moe Dee. He is the art that emceeing has lost. If DOOM could spark enough influence that the industry would follow in his steps, then we would be calling hop the greatest music of all time. Hop would have had a good 30 years of constant elevation, with the future still looking bright for 40. It makes my eyes water just thinking about it.”
And Lib? Besides the late-great J Dilla, there is no producer to come on the scene after 2000 that is on Lib’s level. That means Kanye, 9th Wonder, Just Blaze -- none of the new dudes are seeing Lib behind the boards.
Lib does absolutely ridiculous stuff with the beats. This is, after all, a man that produces albums under the identity of Yesterday's New Quintet and -- without playing one live instrument -- crafts albums that sound like five men are playing noveau-jazz.
That’s why you have Lib producing tracks like “Accordion”, where he gives us this lazy/hazy accordion acting like a string arrangement over a groove with a skipping snare. And you already know what DOOM is doing on it: he's being DOOM. And “Great Day” is SO Yesterday's New and DOOM does just what he's supposed to do over it.
And then the album has these moments where they throw u for the most wonderful loops. Like, "Bistro", for instance, where DOOM plays club/lounge host over that Lib tapestry that sounds like the first day of spring. And a little later in the album you got "Rainbows" where DOOM sings, but sings like a man that knows he can't sing, so he's actually not singing, instead he's just -- in essence -- making music. Like, he sounds good, because he's singing to create a mood, not tickle your ears. Only raw dudes can pull that off. DOOM also had the audacity to make a song about giving a girl a lifesaver breath mint...too much.
“Fancy Clown"? Word? Are you really gonna do that DOOM? Are you really gonna make a song in the character of your other alias, Victor Vaughn, about yourself (DOOM), but referring to yourself as an unfaithful woman cheating on you (Vaughan) with this DOOM, whom you happen to be? You’re not gonna do that are u?
And we won't mention how Lib flawlessly and seamlessly incorporates the anti-hero audio between tracks to propel the alter-ego trip both artists are taking us on.
When you get two dudes this unique, quirky, creative and ambitious together, then landmark things occur. At some point, during this album -- maybe it’s “Rainbows” or “Fancy Clown” or “ALL CAPS” -- you forget about viewing this album within the customary confines of a contemporary hip-hop release. You remove the ceiling and let DOOM and Lib take their respective genius as high as they can go. The ultimate product is legendary.
 |
 4. Mama's Gun
|
 |
 2. Voodoo
|
 1. Madvillainy
|
