Unpacks the complex layers of Madvillainy, the classic 2004 collaboration between producer Madlib and rapper MF DOOM.

This book celebrates Madvillainy as the melding of two genius musical minds to form one revered supervillain. The album was a product of circumstance: it came together soon after the resurgence of rapper MF DOOM’s career and during producer Madlib’s reluctant return from avant-garde jazz to hip-hop. Bridging the gap between pre- and post-social media eras, the album straddled the analog and digital eras while exceeding expectations in both.

Will Hagle blends fiction and nonfiction to celebrate Madvillainy not just as an album but as a folkloric artifact, exploring the album and its mythology from the alternating perspectives of three fake music journalist superheroes. Interviews—with Wildchild, M.E.D., Walasia, Daedalus, Stones Throw execs, and many other real individuals involved with the album’s creation—reveal how Madvillainy, like DOOM and Madlib, has always been bigger than itself. It is one specific retelling of a story that, like Madvillain’s music, continues to spawn infinite legends.

Will Hagle is a writer who lives in Los Angeles.

33 1/3 is a series of short books about popular music, focusing on individual albums that influenced music history.