Madlib and MF DOOM‘s long-awaited Madvillainy 2 will soon see the light of day, nearly 20 years since the first iteration arrived.
Madlib confirmed the good news during a recent visit to Hot 97, where he appeared alongside Talib Kweli to promote their new joint project, Liberation 2. Despite once expressing his doubts the project will ever be released, he revealed plans have changed in the wake of DOOM’s passing.
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“We have like 10 joints,” Madlib told host Peter Rosenberg. “[It’s] just not complete. It’s more like a demo to me because we didn’t piece it together or anything and some of them it sounds like he just did one take and that’s it. [But] I’m gonna finish it. I gotta change a lot of the beats because some of the beats were used also.”
He also revealed that the project has been in the works for nearly two decades, as the recording process began right after Madvillainy was released in 2004. However, DOOM only did a couple songs a year.
In 2021, shortly after news of DOOM’s passing, Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf addressed Madvillainy 2 and said that he had no idea what would ultimately happen.
“Madvillainy 2, DOOM was always telling me, ‘Oh, I’m 85 percent done’ — that was always the magic number, and I was like, ‘This is cool,’” he said on Cipha Sounds and Peter Rosenberg’s Juan Ep Is Dead podcast. “He basically sent us 11 tracks in 2009 and I was ready to try to just finish it up at that point, and it was always like, just wait for a few more songs, wait for a few more songs, then tracks would start being on other albums. I got a little frustrated, and I was just like, ‘Well, it’s gonna happen when it happens. I don’t wanna be the guy to force creativity or any of that.’
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“Over the past few days, I was just thinking of the [A] Tribe Called Quest documentary, where I think it was Chris Lighty was like, ‘Give me the fucking album,’ you know, ’cause otherwise it never would have happened, and that was kinda what happened with us.”
He continued: “So you know, I don’t know what we’re gonna do with those tracks. We were talking to DOOM’s manager Saadiq and Saadiq was basically all with the idea, but we haven’t worked everything out or whatever. I always have weird feelings about doing things after someone passed away.”
In addition to releasing Madvillainy 2, Madlib also recently revealed that he’ll be working on another posthumous project – his joint album with the late Mac Miller, Maclib.
“Right now, I’m finishing up the Mac Miller album, Planet Asia album, Erykah Badu album, different stuff,” he said on Sway in the Morning on Monday (March 27).
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He later added: “[Erykah and I] just started on an album … We have a lot of unreleased stuff.”
Madlib also confirmed that the Mac Miller album is the same project that was reported years ago and the late rapper’s estate has green lighted it.
