Stones Throw, which is the label run by underground hip hop DJ Peanut Butter Wolf, is one of the most respected underground hip hop labels today. It's easy to garner respect though, when you have one of the best beat makers in hip hop (Madlib), and one of the best MC's (MF Doom.) Never before though had these two collaborated to make an album until now. What they've come up with is their own supergroup dubbed Madvillain, and it does not disappoint in the slightest.

Madlib has always been a master of the beats; whether it be under his own name while remixing Blue Note label material on his tasty Shades of Blue album. Or using one of his many aliases, most notably the groovalicious Yesterday's New Quintet, or the rapping on Helium Quasimoto. But on the Madvillain project, Madlib has truly outdone himself. His beats have never sounded more crisp, and the wit has never been more sharp. Wanting to bring a superhero (or should I say supervillain) feel to this record, Madlib lifts great samples from the Batman T.V. show on "Rainbows" and lifts samples of characters from the video game Street Fighter II on the instrumental "Do Not Fire." The vocal manipulations on the intro track "The Illest Villains" is also a wonder to behold. Madlib is definitely on the top of his game here.

As good as the beats are though, they wouldn't mean shit if it weren't for the rhyme-flow talents of the metal-masked MF Doom. Always up to the challenge, Doom lays down lyrics that match the smarts or Madlib's beats. On the track "Raid," which is definitely one of the best on the album, Doom rattles off the line "Trippin' to date, the metal fellow been rippin' flows since New York plates were ghetto yellow with broke blue writing.' And on the absolutely sick "Curls," Doom blasts with 'Land of milk and honey with the swirls, where reckless nekkid girls get necklaces of pearls.' Doom shows time and time again on this Madvillain project that he's one of the best MC's in the business.

And what has to be a first (that I can think of) on any album ever, Madlib and MF Doom's own aliases actually join in on the fun of Madvillain as if they were just normal guest stars. Madlib's own rapping alias Quasimoto joins Doom appropriately on the pot-anthem "America's Most Blunted." And MF Doom's rapping alias Viktor Vaughn shows up on the track "Fancy Clown" to blow up with the hilarious line "My boys warned me you was poison like BBD's first cassette, and still I put all my chips on the worst bet."

Madlib and MF Doom have brought probably the best work of their collective careers to this Madvillain project and it has paid off in full. In a year that has seen a major resurgence in the quality of rap music, Madvilliainy will go down as one of the best albums of 2004.