Trying to cast my mind back to that first time I listened to MF DOOM and Madlib’s Madvillainy album. Like a lot of other songs/albums I’ve mentioned in passing on this place, I think there’s a strong likelihood that I came across it via going through the ‘best albums in history’ list on besteveralbums.com. This was all happening sometime around 2012/13, sure to have been 18 at the time, naive as anything and still requiring a lot of growing up to do. The album’s always been considered to be a classic, pretty much since its release in 2004. I heard it and thought it was just all right. Pretty much feel the same way now. But even though I may underplay it, the album’s a prime showcase of DOOM’s wordplay and vocal presence and Madlib’s knack for making the most absurd yet captivating beats.

‘Raid’ is the fifth song on the record and is the one that I distinctly remember being the first on there, in my opinion, to be the most immediate and instantly memorable, when going through the album on the premiere listen all those years. Leading in from the previous track ‘Bistro’, a sort of interlude track where DOOM welcomes the listener to “Madvillain Bistro Bed and Breakfast Bar and Grill Cafe Lounge on the Water” and introduces his and Madlib’s various aliases that are to come throughout the album, ‘Raid’ seems to come from the perspective of the various people waiting in this place (or somewhere else, I’ve always imagined it as some sort of town hall) and are waiting for DOOM to arrive on stage to deliver his statement. The whole first verse, though delivered by DOOM, is made up of lines from different individuals wondering about the mystique of this DOOM character who note that people leave his shows “feeling truly enlightened.” But DOOM doesn’t show up, and instead we are greeted with a killer verse from guest rapper M.E.D. who drops the mic and closes out the meeting much to this audience’s excitement. DOOM may not have shown up, but the crowd are pleased nonetheless. This is all just my head canon, by the way. Always imagined a music video for this would end up that way.

Madlib’s sample flips here are fantastic too. There’s a bit of Bill Evans Trio here, George Clinton there. To create the main instrumental underneath the verses, he took the 6/4 timed ‘América Latina’ by Osmar Milito e Quarteta Forma and added another two beats to make it 4/4. I type this like I know these things off by heart, but I’d have no idea what any of the songs used here would be without their usage here. With some added jumpy, erratic, pulsing bass hits, you have yourself a head-bopping backdrop of instrumentation. The creation of the instrumental is deconstructed in the video below. Yeah, ‘Raid’ has always been a big highlight from Madvillainy for me. Some unforgettable lines, the flows are immaculate, the production – as I’ve said – is top-notch. This is some good hip-hop.