"Pitchfork" called "Madvillainy" "inexhaustibly brilliant, with layer-upon-layer of carefully considered yet immediate hip-hop, forward-thinking but always close to its roots", noting that "the samples are smart and never played-out, and the production and rhymes reveal a determined sense of cooperation, as MF Doom spouts off his most brilliant lyrical change-ups and production-conscious playoffs". "Q" called Madlib "the most innovative beatsman since Prince Paul", who created "an oddball, cartoon-heavy backdrop for MF Doom's mellifluous wordplay". "Rolling Stone" gave "Madvillainy" praised Madlib's tracks, "fuzzy and crackling with dust", and MF Doom, whose flow is "a particularly elegant slur, with syllables spreading over a beat, not crisply adhering to it". Eric Henderson of "Slant Magazine" called it "a chameleonic masterpiece that alone validates the artistry of sampler culture". Robert Christgau, writing for "The Village Voice", praised the album as "a glorious phantasmagoria of flow". "Blender"s Jody Rosen called it a "torrid album that marries old-school rap aesthetics to punk-rock concision."