Madvillain Returns With A Full Version Of A Song That’s A Blizzard Of Bars (Audio)
It has been more than a dozen years since Madvillain released its debut album. DOOM and Madlib made as interesting (and complementary) a duo as any in Hip-Hop since. The Stones Records tandem dropped Madvillainy, which served as a subpoena to all those sleeping on DOOM for the 15 years prior, and weren’t up on Madlib’s quirky brand of dope beats and spirited rhymes. Nothing was the same since.
In the years since, there was a 2008 full-on remix project (with Madlib re-canvasing his aural masterpiece). But Heads have long speculated that more music would follow, even as Madlib left Stones Throw (after a lengthy tenure) for his own imprint and DOOM has focused on a relentless line of collaborations with Danger Mouse, Masta Ace, Bishop Nehru, John Robinson, Dem Atlas, Jneiro Jarel.
This MF DOOM-Curated Playlist Features Classic Cuts & Brand New Remixes (Audio)
Today, Madvillain’s “Avalanche” releases. The song never made Madvillainy, and leaked only in snippet form. The full-length version is a mustache-twisting knocker that all ‘Villain Heads should feel. Madlib lays down an organ and choral loop (which is not a loop, showing some sprinkled-in accents). With it, the Metal Face MC kicks the ill linguistics: “I’d like to start off by thanking our sponsor / For financing the parts of this Frankenstein monster / Along with my partner who’s a bro of few words / Who did this research for true nerds and two birds.” That autobiographical opening of compound rhymes and symmetrical multi-syllabic cadence is only the warning shot. “MC extraordinaire / Technique’s sorta rare / Caught a glare / Sorta scared / Next week, there’s more to share.” Heads have been waiting a lot longer than a week for this, and those charms are only in the first 30 seconds.
The image-drenched lyrics continue as DOOM calls out toy rappers, takes the listeners to the boxing ring, the strip club, and the horse track. This song even includes a slip-up, but still sounds flawless from afar.