I have been listening to a lot of MF DOOM recently and discovering his albums for the first time. And I thought it's time I could talk about them and which ones I particularly like and put them in some sort of vague order. The order could change by the day so I've used the term 'ranking' very loosely. I wanted to create a bit of a personal celebration of his music that I can share with you - a bit like I have done in the past with Kanye, OutKast and Eminem.
Just before, I understand DOOM has way more albums and records than this, I will give them a try for sure, but even if I tried to include the ones I knew about, there'd 100% be several records in existence that I don't know about. Basically, he's got too many projects to consider for this sort of article so I just narrowed it down to the sort of 'main ones'. Apologies if there was a 'must listen' album that I missed but I got to these 5 based on asking a few people I knew really fucked with him.
5th Best - Vaudeville Villain
First catching my attention on the track 'Fancy Clown' from Madvillainy, thinking who the fuck is Viktor Vaughn, then found out it's an alias and boom it all made sense. This album is nuts. My favourite production out of all his records, I find it the most experimental and forward thinking but still having a really classic sound. Although I think the album has a sort of edge to it that makes it stand out from his others, some of the beats on here really have a definitive sound. That being DOOM's sound. Songs like Lickupon, The Drop, Lactose and Leicithin have instrumentals only DOOM could grace, or in this case, Viktor Vaughn. Raedawn has this cool electronic sound, this songs puts a picture in my head of some heist going on but you are only viewing it through really good quality CCTV footage. Big shoutout to the beat on Can I Watch and the sick storytelling lyricism. Then towards the end we have Popsnot and GMC which have these metallic, bending instrumentals that wouldn't sound out of place in some soundscape warehouse event. The beats have these feels of greyness and silver much like the art work. The beats remind me slightly of Grown Ups by Earl Sweatshirt and New Faces v2 by Mac Miller (both featuring Da$H), same sort of feel, similar sort of sounds. The delivery and flows are super smooth as usual. I've not said much about Viktor's performance in this review, but that previous sentence is enough said. Hard record this!
Star Track - Lickupon
4th Best - Operation: Doomsday
Being the oldest album on the list (1999), this one certainly has the most classic feel to it. With the iconic cartoon and comic book style skits, and my favourite DOOM art work, this album feels super colourful and vibrant. The beat on Rhymes Like Dimes is a cool example of this. The track Doomsday is simply a masterpiece and encapsulates all that is great about this album - tongue in cheek, word-bending, syllable crunching verses with a silky flow all delivered via his deep husky tones. The only track I didn't like was Tick, Tick just as the change of tempo's were too distracting for me and stopped my enjoyment. Hey and ? were two other standout tracks for me of note. I like DOOM's head-bop flow over the drums in particular on ?.
Star Track - Doomsday
3rd Best - BORN LIKE THIS
10 years later and DOOM was not done with rap yet. Another album of incredible, diverse and unique production. But here DOOM's rapping reaches new levels. His relentlessly ill and polished flow was displayed in all its glory (see MORE RHYMIN and THAT'S THAT for key examples). I like how DOOM chooses a particular rhyme scheme and will run it into the ground to the point of no return. He will rinse it and destroy that particular scheme, almost no stone will be left unturned when it comes to DOOM's vocabulary for a particular rhyme scheme. Some people could accuse DOOM of rhyming nonsense for the sake of it - I would reply with asking them if they could do what DOOM does in that case, and the likelihood is, they wouldn't be able to. DOOM doesn't write nonsense, he writes bars, he writes words that rhyme in some of the coolest and most original ways possible. BORN LIKE THIS is an album that can be studied. It is progressive for lyricism.
Star Track - That's That
2nd Best - Madvillainy
MF DOOM and Madlib certainly made a classic here. An album full of absolute tracks. Production was one of a kind and as was the flows. Beats and flow - in the future if I want this combination in particular I will come to DOOM. America's Most Blunted was one of the first songs that stuck with me, Quasimoto's unique voice was as brilliant as the funky baseline. Figaro another epic track that had the perfect combination of beat and flow with a sprinkling of bars of the coldest nature -
"the best is empty with no brain but the clever nerd, the best MC with no chain you ever heard". DOOM has plenty of smooth lyrics in his work, too many to recall but I always thought that one was one of the hardest. DOOM just has it, and on this album he has it the most. I can see why DOOM was not the most popular or highest selling artist of all time. As listenable as his flow is, his music is not accessible to everyone like that. Some people may not be able to get past the quirkier skits or the sometimes left-field production. He doesn't really use catchy hooks to keep your attention (with the exception of Fancy Clown where he does that wonderfully). DOOM lets his flow do the talking. If you can get into him then you seriously will. I have huge respect for the music and Hip Hop he makes. Hip Hop needed a DOOM. Favourite beat on here is Strange Ways. Some quality sampling on all DOOM's albums and Madvillainy is no exception. A lot of DOOM's content is braggadocious, but with his vast array of vocabulary it always sounds fresh. This album seems to have aged brilliantly too, great stuff.
Star Track - Fancy Clown (really hard to choose this one)
Best - MM...FOOD
Like a lot of DOOM's albums and bits, this record I found genuinely funny. This album I believe has probably the most accessible songs and the most thought-out song-writing. That run at the start from Beef Rap to Deep Fried Frenz is insane. DOOM's lyrics and style is a little crazy, the production facilitates and accentuates that. In a calm way though, DOOM obviously always sounds calm, collected and cool. Potholderz has a nice beat, Beef Rap is a funny look on the state of Hip Hop and how some of the beefing is just a bit silly (although rap beef is and always will be one of the most entertaining things about the genre). DOOM spins rap on its head, makes fun of the stereotypes and the expectations, all whilst having some of the hardest lyrics and instrumentals. To have this content you need to be dope otherwise it would not work. Deep Fried Frenz had my favourite instrumental with once again some Godly sampling. Rap Snitch Knishes does exactly some of the things we have just talked about in its reflection of Hip Hop, a satirical song that exposes some of the stupidity we sometimes see. Cool guitar throughout the instrumental made it really unique and stand-out too. Guinnesses had some great feature verses as well as a nice chorus too, maybe the best on the album.
Star Track - Deep Fried Frenz
As this list will always change order, I thought I could put some categories in below and choose which album I thought was the best in that area. This can be looked at through a slightly more objective lens:
Best Beats - Vaudeville Villain
Best Flow - BORN LIKE THIS
Best Delivery - Operation Doomsday
Best Features - BORN LIKE THIS or MM...FOOD
Best Bars - MM...FOOD
Best Hooks - MM...FOOD
Best Song-making - MM...FOOD
Overall, I would not even say DOOM is one of the most multi-syllable murdering MC type of guy. To me, his lyricism is when he takes a rhyme scheme that's maybe 1 to 4 syllables and completely stresses that persistently. Non-stop bars around that rhyme scheme and he doesn't have too much regard for rhyme placement, wherever it will fit, he will put in the rhyme. You'd think that could come off disjointed, but because his delivery is so perfect it just sounds really comfortable and smooth. Smooth is his rap style summed up in 1 word. REST IN PEACE MF DOOM. One of the greatest of all time, certainly in my top 10. So happy to have properly taken the time to get into his albums.
Comments
Post a Comment