When I'm gone, my mind remains a planet

November 7, 2011 1:46 PM

Hip hop’s last enigma. 90 minutes of music and interviewing one of the best lyricists there is, via the Red Bull Academy Lecture series.

The interview with DOOM is slow in places, but features many tracks played in real time. DOOM talks about everything from the death of his brother, to the reasoning behind his multiple personas, to why the interesting hip hop records are the ones that you have to decipher, to how Rhinestone Cowboy was done to fill out MM Food, to the message behind the mask partly being the desire to have the music (sound) be the selling point. He talks about his recording process and tools, working with people like Bobbito and 3rd Bass and wanting to work with Kanye in the future. Also, about how creativity for him is like a wave, or an energy stream. He says Madvillainy 2 will be out soon, that he'll be done with his part by January.

posted by cashman (28 comments total)

The rest is empty with no brain but the clever nerd
The best emcee with no chain ya ever heard
posted by gwint at 1:49 PM on November 7, 2011 [3 favorites]

Aw crap, Madvillainy 2. Does this mean I'm in for another winter where all the Vancouver hipsters decide they do like this one hip hop album, and try to convince me that the slow, lazy vocals landing off beat is an intentional artistic statement?

I don't know, I always wanted to like Doom with his comic persona, but it was only the odd track that did it for me (and I think that was more the genius of Madlib's production). Hopefully he's not gonna do a fake-tour again.
posted by mannequito at 1:54 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Madvillainy 2? But I was waiting on Doomstarks!

Also:

Only in America could you find a way to earn a healthy buck
And still keep your attitude on self-destruct
posted by box at 1:57 PM on November 7, 2011

Thanks - I love me some MF DOOM. This talk provides unprecedented insight into his singular mind and process. Interesting stuff!
posted by unwordy at 2:13 PM on November 7, 2011

It's awesome that they play full tracks, but damn does that look awkward. It's not a live show, so you're just sitting there, in chairs, facing the maker of the music. Perhaps it's a bit like meeting someone involved in film and watching clips, but music feels different, especially hip-hop. Making hip-hop cerebral is weird.

That said, this is awesome. Red Bull Music Academy is one of those random commercially backed thing that churns out great music and music-related media.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:18 PM on November 7, 2011

Anyone who is an MF DOOM fan probably already knows about KMD, but they produced some solid tracks, if you haven't heard. Really cool Golden Age stuff.

Madvilliany is one of my favorite albums of all time. I love MF DOOM, but it's hard for me to not get ridiculously effusive when talking about Madlib. He's definitely one of the most interesting artists of the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century.
posted by Pope Xanax IV at 2:57 PM on November 7, 2011

Yeah, Red Bull Academy makes me feel so conflicted. I don't want to like what they do, but it's all so good.
posted by Pope Xanax IV at 2:59 PM on November 7, 2011

try to convince me that the slow, lazy vocals landing off beat is an intentional artistic statement?

slow and lazy is sort of a staple these days, I can scarcely recall a time in the last 10 years where I heard a rapper who sounded like he even wanted to be on the microphone. DOOM however is at least more lively and on-beat than Madlib is, and I happen to think both of them are pretty great and have made better and more interesting albums than anything Kanye or 50 Cent or Jay-Z have done in recent memory. It's not for everyone though I guess.
posted by Hoopo at 3:22 PM on November 7, 2011

It's not for everyone though I guess

It is, I think, but it takes a while to 'get' doom. When I first listened to his first stuff under the MF DOOM name, I was like what is this shit? Because a lot of his tracks are hit and miss. But then I started to get it, and then stuff like Rhinestone Cowboy, All Caps and Yee Haw is just brilliance.
posted by cashman at 4:37 PM on November 7, 2011

Great, thanks for posting this!
posted by carter at 4:43 PM on November 7, 2011

DOOM's own production has an old school, lo-fi approach for sure, and the songs you mentioned were all done by Madlib. I love DOOM's beats, but that's probably because a lot of his beats come off like stuff me and my buddies used to make on the fly when we were just goofing off. He's got a knack for pulling great beats out of the weirdest source material, but sometimes sounds more interested in the concept than making a polished product.
posted by Hoopo at 4:55 PM on November 7, 2011

That pot belly is legit
posted by Jibuzaemon at 5:25 PM on November 7, 2011 [2 favorites]

Hoopo - I agree with you on Doom being a better MC than Madlib. I've always thought that Madlib should stick to production, which he's fantastic at.

But in terms of the slow, lazy delivery, I can't seem to enjoy Doom's style the way I can someone like Curren$y.
posted by mannequito at 5:39 PM on November 7, 2011

Also, something I forgot to mention in my original comment - I hope that Doom being 'hip hop's last enigma' doesn't mean that Kool Keith died recently.
posted by mannequito at 5:42 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Slow? Not all the time. Lazy? More like effortless. Try listening more closely, and to something post-Operation Doomsday, which I'll admit never really grabbed me, and kept me from knowing what I was missing for years.
posted by Rustmouth Snakedrill at 6:09 PM on November 7, 2011

damn, off to watch. thanks!
posted by sleepy pete at 6:35 PM on November 7, 2011

Glasses over the mask, argyle sweater over the gut. fantastic.
posted by tylermoody at 6:50 PM on November 7, 2011

Give it a sec for the pain to start
This wreck right here it ain't for the faint of heart.

(Mf doom is the best rapper of the past 10 years and if you think the flow is lazy its because yr asleep.)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:49 PM on November 7, 2011

Since that seems like a dig at me for having an opinion, I'll reply - how would you define 'of the past 10yrs'? Would that mean they had to make their debut in that time frame or what?

Either way, I think Big Boi makes a great case for the best rapper of the past decade. From last summer's Sir Luscious Letfoot: The Son Of Chico Dusty

General Patton
Shutterbugg
Tangerine
posted by mannequito at 8:33 PM on November 7, 2011

You're all wrong. The best rapper of the past 10 days, of my life, is Danny Brown.
posted by palidor at 9:22 PM on November 7, 2011 [1 favorite]

Nuh-uh palidor, the best rapper of your life in the last 5 minutes is Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire. Also personally for me Big Boi isn't even the best part of Outkast, but yeah he's plenty good.
posted by Hoopo at 9:56 PM on November 7, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've wanted to see DOOM live for a while. I even got tickets to see him in Toronto.

Then, two nights before, he sends an impersonator out on stage in Chicago after making everyone wait HOURS. The real DOOM never makes an appearance. People flip out.

He can't respect his OWN fans enough to even show up?

Ticketmaster refunded my money the day before the show. He did actually show up for Toronto, performed for all of 20 minutes, and left. Fuck DOOM, even if he's a good rapper.
posted by smitt at 6:13 AM on November 8, 2011

I know nothing about hip hop so most of this discussion is lost on me. Watching the ridiculous dude in the video posted by the OP wasn't much help, though it did make me realize (again) that I am fucking old.

My take away from all of this will be "black man in mask does good".
posted by datter at 2:51 PM on November 8, 2011

Watching the ridiculous dude in the video posted by the OP wasn't much help

Heh, I could see that. There's something a bit awkward and odd and surreal about the whole situation. Here's a fat guy in a metal mask getting interviewed and no one seems to think anything about it; there's all these awkward pauses to listen to music while these tryhards awkwardly bob their heads to the beat.
posted by Hoopo at 4:43 PM on November 8, 2011

Nuh-uh palidor, the best rapper of your life in the last 5 minutes is Mr. Muthafuckin Exquire.

It'll please you to know that link was already-visited-color! I've been meaning to check out the mixtape/album/whatever (is there any kind of clear definition for this these days? I guess I always thought rapping over outside beats = mixtape but now dudes are putting out "mixtapes" that are full of original beats). I really have been spending too much time obsessively listening to Danny Brown, though. I'm kind of upset that I'd been hearing him for like a year now on Black Milk's Album of the Year but never bothered to check him out until a week and a half ago.

Also, DOOM had a bullshit response to DOOM-impostor-gate. I suppose it's some nice BS in a way, in line with how he talks about his different characters in the OP video, but it's still obviously BS.

Personal Big Boi addendum: Shina Blockas
posted by palidor at 5:34 PM on November 8, 2011

Also Shine Blockas. Or maybe China Shinas
posted by palidor at 5:39 PM on November 8, 2011

Yeah Danny Brown reminds me of the good old days of battle rappers in the early to mid 90s, definitely good stuff.
posted by Hoopo at 8:26 PM on November 8, 2011

I've seen DOOM twice this year.
I'd heard all the stories about him, so I was totally prepared for a mannequin with a boom box or something at the first gig.
He was taking requests, bantering with the crowd, hunting around to see if he still had beats for old songs, super happy to be up there playing...it was a great show.
posted by Kreiger at 2:07 PM on November 10, 2011