mf doom is a god among men

I was all ready to blow up when I saw the headline on this Village Voice review: “MF Doom: Worst Rapper Ever?”
MF Doom is a god among men. I mean, there’s Madvillainy, one of the best hip-hop records of the 2000s, but there’s also the freakier Viktor Vaughn sides, the snack-food concept album, the Ghostface collaboration (available on a file-sharing network near you), and a thousand more.
And, of course, the Danger Doom album, which was to my mind the most accessible great hip-hop album of recent times. The beats (by DJ Danger Mouse) are so bright and shiny and fun that I have trouble imagining anyone not liking it. (Four tracks here, “Sofa King” and “Old School” especially.) Then again, I underestimate some people’s hatred of hip-hop all the time.
And dude, the man wears a metal mask whenever he’s in public. That’s awesome.
Anyway, upon further reading, that Village Voice article gives Doom his due. He’s “muttering fascinatingly free-associative non-sequitur rhymes, and crafting disorienting beats from chopped-up shards of quiet storm and hotel-lounge jazz…These days, he’s just about the only thing in underground rap worth anyone’s attention.” And: “MF Doom is a great rapper, an enigmatic master of persona shifts and weird transitions; he turns traditional battle-rap into an exercise in sidelong expressionism and internal-rhyme virtuosity…his under-the-breath all-tangent flow is compellingly mysterious, especially when paired with swirling low-fi beats.” But the writer claims Doom sucks live. And I don’t doubt it: His music is, as he writes, best on headphones, and beyond the mask, Doom on stage is just a chubby guy standing still.
And it does seem strange that the great Big Daddy Kane was reduced to opening for Doom. No surprise that Kane apparently put on a great show. Last I heard from him was his guest on Prince Paul’s A Prince Among Thieves.
Two random side notes:
– An MP3 of Dealership’s “Tetsuo,” the one song most likely to cause me to play airdrums.
– I’m going to SXSW again this year, No. 5 in a row. If you’re going too, let me know.

3 thoughts on “mf doom is a god among men”

  3. Hello, first off, Big Daddy Kane wasn’t reduced to opening for Doom, he was asked to join the bill, as a tribute. But I did find it rather funny, that he would oblige to be on the bill opening for Zeb Love X, haha. If Kane shared a bill and didn’t open, it’s usually for his old school/golden age MC pals. I’m a big fan of hip-hop, and more so… the old school, golden age, and early to mid 90’s rap, after that, it declined in its originality w/ the exception of a few. Kane is my favorite MC, and does about 40-50 shows a year as the headliner, and kills it everytime, as only a legendary MC only could. So at the concert in Times Square at the Nokia theatre, they might as well should’ve shut down the place after Kane performed because, there was no way that Doom could’ve top that, and apparently, he didn’t and even left early, because much of the crowd were leaving during his performance and he was getting frustrated, you could see him literally getting mad at the way his set was going, so he left Talib Kweli to finish it off.
    Kane still does singles every now and then, and has much material whether that or guest appearances, since the Prince of Thieves album. And all of them were fire! If you get the chance, check out Jurassic 5’s Power in Numbers LP, for “A Day at the Races”, the song “Welcome To Durham” on Little Brother’s “Chitlin Circuit 1.5” and Big L’s “Platinum Plus”…which he destroys that track! Anything else, check out the Kane group and hit me up on there (click on the name, it’s free)…peace

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