Earlier this month, Talib Kweli and Madlib released Liberation 2. Available exclusively on the Luminary podcast app (where Black Star released 2022’s Madlib-produced No Fear Of Time), the new LP features Westside Gunn, Roc Marciano, Q-Tip, Roy Ayers, and the late Mac Miller. The project is a sequel to the mid-2000s collaboration LP. However, while appearing on Ebro In The Morning, Madlib revealed that he has another anticipated sequel album in the works.
Speaking about a sequel to 2004’s Madvillainy, the lone studio album from MF DOOM & Madlib’s Madvillain duo, the revered producer/DJ/MC confirmed plans. “We have like 10 joints,” Madlib confirmed to the show’s co-host Peter Rosenberg at the 13:00 mark. “I’m gonna finish it. I got to change a lot of the beats, ’cause of some of the beats were used [since the songs were recorded],” he added. Recording reportedly began in the mid-2000s after Madvillainy, but had sporadic updates since. “[It is] 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.”
Madlib adds that he learned of DOOM’s 2020 passing at the same time as the general public. Talib points to a recent episode of Donald Glover’s Atlanta that he feels is based on some mysterious, perhaps deliberate circumstances surrounding DOOM’s death.
In 2021, Stones Throw Records founder Peanutbutter Wolf spoke about these recordings. His company released the famed first installment. “Madvillainy 2, [MF] DOOM was always telling me, ‘Oh, I’m 85% done’ — that was always the magic number, and I was like, ‘This is cool,’” he said on a special episode of 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.’”
Back then, Wolf explained that the unreleased DOOM recordings were being handled by Siddiq Sayers, who is the co-founder of Rhymesayers Entertainment. “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.” Like Stones Throw, DOOM released some of his music through RSE.
On Ebro, Madlib also confirmed an album in the works with Brooklyn, New York’s Your Old Droog and a collaboration with Fresno, California’s Planet Asia. Madlib added “I cut everybody off,” referring to his longtime business partner Egon. Last year, Talib Kweli called out Egon over mishandling possessions of MF DOOM and the late MC/producer’s family—something that DOOM’s widow Jasmin also alleged.
Madlib says that he and Mac Miller recorded an an album, said to be called MacLib. Those recordings may release, upon approval from Miller’s estate. Kweli reveals that the Liberation 2 collaboration, “The Right To Love Us,” was a Madlib beat that both he and Mac Miller had recorded to separately. The artists who had previously collaborated on “Family First” were then joined on a new track via the producer, Madlib.
BonusBeat: Nearly five years ago, AFH filmed a video of Talib Kweli speaking about the impact of Madvillainy:
