Bleep

It’s King Geedorah on the boards with that golden sound, a stone cold classic LP under one of many aliases from the eternal MF DOOM. Take Me To Your Leader was DOOM’s second solo album in 2003, sitting in between his game changing debut Operation: Doomsday and fan favourite MM..FOOD as one of the few in his discography to be entirely self-produced, written, recorded, arranged, mixed, and mastered: a covert crown jewel and underground classic, or in his own words, “a blend of ill lyrics and instrumentals, [...] way iller than any of the wack shit out now.”

Stitched together with obscure worldbuilding samples that cement the Metal Fingered Villain’s character in our minds, and a host of features spitting over the dopest loops, Take Me To Your Leader is a world tour of humanity’s peculiarities with a comic book comedic approach viewed through alien eyes. Inspired by the eponymous character in Japanese kaiju filmography, King Geedorah takes us to a plunderphonic wonderland of hip hop havoc, action packed with frothing and crashing beat chops, and dialogue samples amplifying the intrigue.

DOOM makes a masterpiece whether he’s in front of the mic, or handing over the spotlight to one of his elite crew of collaborators. By himself, he’s the royalty of rhyme and reference, rapping over soaring psychedelic shreds, crisp rhythms, and ethereal strings, even on the short but insatiable ‘The Final Hour’ with whistling sci fi synths and wild drum machines backing an effortless verse musing on his unparalleled quality in the underground scene. But he’s also an expert at bringing talent together, evidenced by ensemble cuts like ‘Next Levels’ and ‘No Snakes Alive’, contrasting luscious jazzy arrangements with abstract accelerations of the beats and flows, producing head spinning, laser focussed linguistic experiments.

Decades on, MF DOOM and co. still showcase the tightest, most creative bars in the game on Take Me To Your Leader.