"Madvillainy" was met with widespread critical acclaim from music critics and became one of the most critically acclaimed projects of both artists. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 93, based on 20 reviews; it was the year's best-reviewed rap album and third highest reviewed album overall, according to the website. It also was the second most acclaimed rap album at the time of its release, behind Outkast's "Stankonia". Sam Samuelson of AllMusic wrote that album's strength "lies in its mix between seemingly obtuse beats, samples, MCing, and some straight-up hip-hop bumping" and that "MF Doom's unpredictable lyrical style fits quite nicely within Madlib's unconventional beat orchestrations". Will Hermes of "Entertainment Weekly" called it "indie rap blowing session by two guys near the top of their game". "Alternative Press" praised "Madvillainy" as "all invention and no indulgence", while "HipHopDX" dubbed it an "experimental, eclectic, raw, spontaneous" classic. "Mojo" praised the album, calling it "a symphony of such densely constructed chaos" and noting that ""Madvillainy"'s very opacity is part of its brilliance".