In the United Kingdom, where DJ Shadow had already established himself as a rising act, Endtroducing received praise from music journalists at the time of its release, and reached the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart.

During this period, interest in Endtroducing began to build among the American music press, and it peaked at number 37 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.

It is considered a landmark recording in instrumental hip hop, with DJ Shadow's sampling techniques and arrangements leaving a lasting influence.

[3] His KDVS work impressed A&R representative Dave "Funken" Klein, who signed him to the Hollywood Basic label to produce music and remixes.

(1994), utilized samples from "used-bin" vinyl records, blending elements of hip hop, funk, soul, jazz, rock, and ambient music.

"[12] DJ Shadow began production on Endtroducing in 1994 in his California apartment, before moving to the Glue Factory, the San Francisco home studio of his colleague Dan the Automator.

[16] The Endtroducing album cover is a photograph taken at Rare Records by B Plus, showing producer Chief Xcel and rapper Lyrics Born (the latter wearing a wig), who like DJ Shadow were members of the SoleSides collective.

"[2] Minor vocal contributions were provided by Lyrics Born and another SoleSides member, rapper Gift of Gab,[22] as well as DJ Shadow's then-girlfriend Lisa Haugen.

[32] "What Does Your Soul Look Like (Part 4)" layers wordless chants over a looped bass groove, creating what Paste's Mark Richardson describes as an "uneasy" techno soundscape.

[40][41] "Napalm Brain/Scatter Brain" progresses slowly, starting with a bassline and a drum loop, then gradually increasing in tempo as additional instrumentation enters the mix.

[49] "Midnight in a Perfect World" was previously issued as the album's first single on September 2, 1996,[50] and it was later released to American college and modern rock radio stations in January 1997.

[55] Describing the time spent promoting Endtroducing as "some weird rollercoaster ride", DJ Shadow was dismayed by the lack of reaction upon returning to his hometown of Davis, compared to the attention he had received within the British music scene.

[56] Following this period, interest in his work grew in the US; newspapers ran stories on Endtroducing and DJ Shadow received several phone calls a day, enough to convince him to hire a manager.

[5] Alternative Press praised the album as "an undeniable hip-hop masterpiece" showing "DJ Shadow remembers that sampling is an art form",[59] while Q reviewer Martin Aston described it as "a cinematically broad spectrum so deftly layered that the sampling-is-stealing argument falls flat".

[67] David Bennun from The Guardian said the record was "not only one of the most daring and original albums of recent times, but also one of the loveliest",[62] and in Melody Maker, he wrote: "I am, I confess, totally confounded by it.

"[70] Author and rock critic Greil Marcus penned a glowing review of the album in Artforum, where he called it "absolutely modern – which is to say ambient-dreamy and techno-abstract" and "quite brilliant throughout".

[71] Entertainment Weekly critic Jon Wiederhorn likened Endtroducing to "a surreal film soundtrack on which jazz, classical, and jungle fragments are artfully blended with turntable tricks and dialogue snippets" and said that it "takes hip-hop into the next dimension.

"[61] Tony Green of JazzTimes commended DJ Shadow's "unerring ear for motif and texture",[72] and Simon Williams of NME called him "both slyly knowing and brilliantly naive, fusing the dramatic and the deranged to his own sweet end.

"[31] Rolling Stone journalist Jason Fine found that while Endtroducing occasionally lapses into less interesting "moody atmospherics", "even in the record's mellowest moments, Shadow's allegiance to the hard beats of hip-hop saves him".

[95] Will Hermes called Endtroducing "trip-hop's crowning achievement" in Spin,[96] and Jeff Weiss of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it defined American trip hop.

[101][102] DJ Shadow expressed surprise at the album's stature: "After the record, I'd always bump into these world-class producers who'd say, 'Yeah, Endtroducing – what a great piece of production.'

Club suggested that the influence of Endtroducing may have had a negative effect on the album itself, saying that it "has been partially diluted by the symphonic beat-collage culture it helped spawn.

[105] Nonetheless, DJ Shadow clarified that he views the album in a positive light: "People always seem to suggest that there's this pressure, and that Endtroducing is some kind of albatross, and I've just honestly never felt that way.

[24] It includes a second disc, Excessive Ephemera, comprising alternate takes, demos, B-sides, remixes, and a live track, as well as new sleeve photographs and notes about the making of the album.