MF DOOM - the wire magazine interview
The creator of many guises, metaphors, characters, rhymes, pseudonyms and beats, MF DOOM is power house producer.
After listening to “Vaudeville Villain”, realising that I had listened to DOOM in KMD when I was about 16, “King Geedorah”, “Madvillainy”, “MM… Food”, going back to listen to “Operation Doomsday” and freaking out along the whole journey… I am quite honestly fascinated with this guy.
Seeing him perform live with Madlib, at B.B. Kings in NYC for the release party of Madvillainy, I the two hardest working guys in hip hop today.
My friend April said just recently, that Kool Keith could have been what MF DOOM has become. I was struck by how right on she was. Keith and DOOM share many similar qualities; multiple alter egos, other worldly lyrics, lots of non mainstream production. I’ll have to think about this one some more… I think she might have hit upon something here…
Read the excellent Wire interview here.
Thanks for the props. I think Kool Keith took his personas too far lyrically and not far enough musically. MF DOOM pushes bothin new directions. I also do not think that MF DOOM has a fear of bodily fluids the way KK does.
Comment by April — May 15, 2005 @ 11:28 pm
You’re both wrong here. KK was more than you give him credit for. Go back and re-listen to Dr. Oc, Dr. Dooom, and Black Elvis and see that his personas were solidly portrayed in the beats. The problem is consistency, and DOOM has proven that he can put out album after album of consistently high quality lyrics and beats. We haven’t tired of his characteristic sound and samples because he keeps it intersting and inovative, and the lyrics are always solid. Around “Lost Masters” the quality of Keith’s releases just started dropping precipitously; production sucked, and he even decided to stop rhyming instead just was talking. The new Dr. Octagon part 2 is a disgrace to the name. They do share many qualities, but Keith just seems burned out and is now just relying on people like me who buy his releases just because they have his name on them, whereas DOOM keeps puting out solid albums with tracks like “Hero vs. Villain” that in one song references Slobodan Milosevic, Gordon Gecko and Benny Hill.
Comment by dnboy — June 10, 2005 @ 7:51 pm
Off which album is “Hero vs Villain”? To be honest I’ve not been listening to KK’s latest shit…if you’re right I might as well avoid it like the plague.
Comment by Ali Shaeed — November 17, 2005 @ 6:35 am
Hero Vs. Villain is off Operation: Doomsday. Now, don’t get me wrong, Kool Keith has made some amazing cuts, I’ve just not heard much from him recently that really got me excited. A couple of my favourite KK cuts: FUMF, Supergalactic lover, Baddest MC.
Comment by est1976 — November 18, 2005 @ 10:27 am
Well i am just some guy who hit this blog looknig for an MF doom pic. I am actually morea dangerdoom fan the MF doom but all i can say is that this man is crazy he makes the best hip-hop i have heard in a long time.
Comment by Andrew — January 12, 2006 @ 4:00 pm
Kool keith sparked daniel dumiles interests, although mf is unbelievable, its just a fact kool keith has more quality variety and is/WAS more versitile.
i mean cmon guys, you cant critized a guy in his mid forties to continue with the style and game he created ahead of his time in the early 90s. The reasoning for his more recent stuff is in the fact that hes like 44
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Comment by dandemos — April 5, 2008 @ 1:17 am
MF DOOM so wishes he was as creative as Kool Keith. And yeah, Keith went loopy for 3 or 4 years and was releasing all kinds of weird shit. It’s 2008 though and Tashan Dorrsett is pretty good. Project X looks alright. I’ve heard the Podcast medley of the Dr. Dooom 2 album and it wrecks anything MF DOOM has ever done. Period.
And you people can’t blame the Return Of Dr. Octagon on Keith. Look into that story. He got ripped off. Dirty dealings there.
Sex Style, Octagonecologyst, First Come, First Serve, Spankmaster and Diesel Truckers were all quite superior to MF DOOM’s shit. The new Dr. Dooom is gonna top most of those classics. Keith ain’t washed up. He just took a vacation and sold shit that was laying around.
Also, the REAL Dr. Octagon 2 was pretty good. I got a promo album that was given to radio stations that plays the first 1:30 of each song. It’s 100% different than Return Of Dr. Octagon. It was a classic. Too bad Keith had record company/producer troubles on that thing and abandoned it, because it was a hit for sure.
Comment by Jon — September 13, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
Burnt out? Listen to Dr. Dooom 2 and then kick yourself in the ass! It just seems that MF Doom spends more time working on his music, maybe an obsession? Which is fantastic, every album of his has been great. But Kool Keith probably doesn’t work as much as MF Doom, either way none is better than the other, they both are unforgettable and legends of hip-hop. Yeah, MF Doom is going down as an underground legend for sure.
Comment by EL Dastard — January 3, 2009 @ 2:39 am
my favorite kool keith albums are project polaroid and nogotco rd. and i dont think they get enough attention considering how great they are. MF DOOM is an amazing rapper and producer, but he kinda went missing for awhile. kool keith on the other hand is making numerous records a year.
Comment by Montgomery P. Rockwell — October 14, 2009 @ 12:06 pm