No title could summarise more accurately Daniel Dumiles place in hip-hop or indeed music in general. His seemingly endless discography of underground poetry and beats occasionally crosses over into the mainstream, aided in this latest offering by appearances from Wu Tang mainstays Raekwon and Tony Starks the alter ego of Ghostface Killa. This most talented of rappers returns with another painstakingly beautiful concoction of cut throat, industry demolishing rhymes and beats laced with B movie samples, ghostly strings, searing horns and snares that crunch like an ear bite from Mike Tyson or a steel chair to the face courtesy of Bam Bam Bigelow.
Dumiles latest incarnation DOOM is a shortened version of the previous MF DOOM. His name is appropriate and similar to the game-play of his namesake the 90′s video game DOOM in that rather than annihilating fictional monsters, he scythes down equally ‘fake’ emcees with chainsaw wielding deadliness. It’s difficult to keep track of the number of alter ego’s he has had over the years. There’s his beginning as Zev Love X in the group KMD, here his afro-centric rhymes are a far cry from the lyrical gymnastics on Born Into This. Other notable aliases are King Geedorah, Viktor Vaughan and collaborations such as Madvillainy with producer Madlib and his Danger Doom exploits with crossover producer Danger Mouse.
Fans have been waiting for two years for this new material from DOOM and I feel this outing doesn’t disappoint, you can expect to hear DOOM deliver his usual peppering of unusual rhyming couplets. “And the lucky contestant was sent / a whole year’s supply of buckets of yucky excrement,” from track 6 “Rap Ambush.” Also present are the masterfully executed, chopped up samples and beats from esteemed producers, Madlib, Jake One, DOOM himself and the late great J Dilla on “Lightworks” a sample led space-age, African-dancing symphony of drippy-drop percussion, whispering synths and the occasional blaring klaxon. I’ll never try to pretend that this is everybody’s cup of tea and DOOM has never intended to be so, that for me personally is the beauty of his appeal.
Listen to Born Like This on Spotify here…
Buy Born Like This here…
