Many have risen from the hip hop underground, but MF DOOM is one such artist whose soundwaves have travelled the furthest from the surface without him ever setting foot out of the shadows. After beginning in the trio KMD in 1988, the British born American rapper and producer Daniel Dumile disappeared, his place taken by an elusive alter ego whose discography from the late 90s onwards would define abstract and experimental hip hop, the metal faced villain MF DOOM. This bundle collects some of his most vital output from his highly prolific golden era of 2003 to 2005, including idiosyncratic solo productions and illustrious collaborations.
His second solo album under the MF DOOM name, 2004’s MM..FOOD, is an unmissable feast, cementing his incessantly witty pen game in one of rap’s finest (and earliest) concept albums about the very real joy in eating good. There are layers upon layers of in-jokes and wry wit both gloomy and silly. From eerie comic book collages to nonchalant quality rhymes flying out at high speed, DOOM crafted a leftfield potpourri of turntablist abstraction, making holy grails of the records he sampled.
Just months before MM..FOOD came the golden record of DOOM’s own output, his legendary collaboration with Madlib that would become one of the best and most inventive hip hop albums of all time. Madvillainy remains crisp, clear, and fresh to this day, not least because of Madlib’s characteristically swinging production, but also DOOM’s vignette lyrics boasting one of a kind wordplay, like the nonsequiturs and garden path sentences of ‘Shadows Of Tomorrow’ conjoined in between the puff and pass of stellar, eclectic beats. With disparate influences from staple jazz, funk, and lounge to Bollywood soundtracks and the early experiments of Steve Reich, there are delicious details all around, threaded together by experts at the top of their game.
What followed in 2005 was the cherry on top of these back to back to back hits: The Mouse & The Mask found Danger Mouse pairing soulful horn flourishes with breakbeats and other modern touches for DOOM to unravel his unlimited repertoire of rhymes over, asserting his unparalleled status. The DANGERDOOM collab is among his most jovial outings, with Danger pulling the lighter side out of his supervillain poses through cartoon skits featuring a range of Adult Swim character cameos playing out over vibrant instrumentals. Mysterious, full of character, and totally hypnotising.
As some of his most celebrated and widely referenced work, these albums are not just the crowning achievements in DOOM’s discography, but albums that truly reign supreme in the hip hop canon and beyond.
