Been on this game as long you can wheelie your Schwinn...is not only pure poetry, it's telling my story.
Turn the corner spinning, bust that ass and get up,
Dust off the mask, whoever laugh give em a head up.
He got jumped, it pumped his adrenaline,
He said it made him tougher than a bump of raw medicine.
To write all night long, the hourglass is still slow,
Flow from Hellborne to Free Power like Wilco.
And still owe bills, pay dues forever,
Slay huge, when it comes to who's more cleverer.
Used to wear leather ski with the fur collar
And charged fee for loose-leaf, words per dollar
You heard holler, broad or dude, we need food
Eat your team for sure, the streets sure seem rude.
For fam like the Partridges, pardon me for the mix-up,
Battle for Atari cartridges, put your kicks up.
Listen, I'm a journalist because I can't MC. I spent many years as a kid trying and I was pretty awful. But if I had Doom's handle on beats and words, I would have wrote that. It's all so visual and so familiar--getting jumped when it was supposed to be a fair one, the embarrassment of busting your ass, constantly writing, the feeling--even after some success--of still owing bills.
I think the most powerful line in that verse is "Dust off the mask, whoever laugh give em head up." Students of black lit will know what role masking has played in the black community since the days of Dunbar. Traditionally the idea has been to hide your true self from white people, for fear of racial violence.
But what Doom does, and frankly what I tried to do in my memoir, is he flips the tradition. So there is the masking that protects you from white people--but the more familiar mask, the one that black boys wear every day, is the one that's designed to protect you from other black boys. Now, Doom is literally referring to the mask he wears when performing. But it also works as a literary device, as the embodiment of a pose that hides pain and but projects power ("he wears the mask just to cover the raw flesh\a rather ugly brother with flows that's gorgeous.")
I don't know why that verse hit me this morning. It just did.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
I loved that MF Doom/Modest Mouse album with all the cuts from Adult Swim. Eatin cereal, snot-nosed, watchin cartoons... MF Doom rules.
Now I'm gonna have to go and listen to all my Doom albums... thank you very much sir.
And I can definitely use this in my poetry class...
There's a great Doom interview in the newest issue of Wax Poetics that underscores some of the stuff you talk about. He talks a little about crafting the Doom persona and the distance between the real Dumile and the Villain. Most importantly, it seems like new stuff is finally on the way.
That's my favorite line, too, but for different reasons. When my mom moved us out to Long Island, I couldn't ride a bike for squat. I'd bust my ass often and spectacularly.
And, I love the Grind Date. Me and my boys often joke that we need an "adult contemporary rap" category for stuff you can still bump and not be embarrassed by. The Grind Date's the blueprint for exactly that kinda sound.
Ha, just listened to the Grind Date Friday at work. No one rhymes like Doom period. I mean what other MC could rock a verse that includes the name 'Slobadon Milosovic'?
Honestly Ta, when I started reading your blog (Pre-Atlantic) you had a Doom quote on the header. That told me I was right at home.
"I loved that MF Doom/Modest Mouse album with all the cuts from Adult Swim."
Not Modest Mouse, Dangermouse, on the cd "The Mask and the Mouse. An MF/Modest Mouse pairing would certainly be interesting though..
sv, I'm pretty sure you meant Danger Mouse, but damn I'd be down for an Isaac Brock/Daniel Dumile collab.
"Slay huge."
drop dead joints hit the whips like birdshit/they need it like a whole in they head or a third tit
It's a miracle, how he get so lyrical/And proceed to move the crowd like an old Negro spiritual
Doom's got a deep life tailor-made for a movie: KMD getting dropped from Elektra the same week Subroc gets hit by a car and killed, sleeping on benches homeless in Manhattan for years before coming back with a whole new persona, mask and all, and just owning hip hop on a certain level for the better part of a decade.
Obviously there are plenty of larger than life figures in hip hop, but Doom's walking around on the periphery with a profound history and intelligence, something someone really needs to dig into.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when the fuck is Doom gonna drop some new material? I'm tired of waiting, damnit!
I second dwhite's sentiments. When's Doom dropping some new ish? I've been wearing out the Special Herbs Vol. 1-4 like nobody's business. I think Doom's beats are underrated. Well, maybe not among Doom heads but I think among just music heads who usually quote a witty-ass line that Doom drops. The MadVillainy (Doom/Madlib) album re-issue is FIREEEEEE!
oops, yeah I meant Dangermouse. MF Doom and Dr. Doom (aka Dr. Octagon aka Black Elvis aka Kool Keith), man... I mean Keith is on a different style, or different wavelength rather, but these are some dudes who really, really think for themselves in hip hop. Love it when people get deep into something. I mean, Keith wrote an entire album about freaking long-haul trucking.. MF Doom's flow is sicker in my opinion though Keith is no slouch.
yes, yes! my handle is a shout to Doom....unfortunately, i can't remember which song at this time....need.coffee.now.
Where can i download some De La for an ipod? I only seem to find some obsure albums available.
'rappin and dancin like Redhead Kingpin'
...never fails to crack me the hell up because it take me back to Yo! MTV Raps and the video for 'Do the Right Thing'
Geedorah the professor, add a question to the lessons/ He suggest you get a full assessment instead of guessing/ It's too stressing, did he stutter like rookie yes-men?/ Or did he just bring the butter, like the cookie chessmen?
CeezDieM, that's my favorite Doom song.
Hear ye, hear ye! How dare ye/
Go up against the king who do his thing tri-yearly?/
They're too carefree with their mouths around here/
Off with his head, and display it at Town Square/
On top a seven-feet spike, make sure it's on tight/
In light of when the peasants throw stones with all their might/
Skull get smashed for weeks/
'Til vulture beaks eats the last meat off your cheeks/
Maybe then they'll know the right words to speak/
Out loud, at home, in the world, or in the streets/
It's no escape, just in case/
All the kings' mens and 'em decides to go apes/
The most slick-talking of burly guys/
Get caught and boiled in oil like curly fries/
Even those that's Mr. Furley's size that earned the fate/
Could all get burned at the stake/
Send word to his closest kins, that for his sins/
We claim his throne, his providence, and its citizens
I haven't seen Kes or Nelix\Oh yeah, well you just stay away from her with those lyrics\Please ain't nobody fucking after her\I'm outta here soon as I fix the flux-capacitor
What up/
To all rappers shut up with ya shuttin up/
And keep your shirt on, at least a button up/
Yuck, is they rhymers or strippin males?/
Outta work jerks since they shut down Chippendales
These lines go through my head every time I see a picture of 50 Cent.
i like Doom's 2nd verse:
Doom brung that bum
there goes that news van again
Act like you knew like Toucan Sam an' nem
He eat rappers like part of a complete breakfast...
Aw man. That was a great De La song. My favorite Doom song (and I have a lot of them) has to be Saliva under his Viktor Vaughn alias. Just 2+ minutes of fire...
Great balls of fire
Guess who just crawled out the mud the mire
That could make you trust a motherfuckin liar
A real shuck n' jiver
Vaughn never been a duck n' diver
He spit on the mic, yuck, saliva
Hold it like a drunk driver hold a CB on a sharp turn
Still clutchin' his chest from the heartburn
What's your handle? I need a Zantac, ock
and thanks before I blank into anyphylactic shock
Rock the disco
Chocolate on a crisco ho ?
Cock diesel
And still tell a joke like Joe Piscipo
Tell em the basics
Basically, break the Matrix
And just for kicks, make em gel like Asics
...
Holy moses, my old earth know me closest
On how I played it back and stayed bent like scoliosis
Damn, since people are sharing verses...one of the best of all time: Jeru the Damaja on "Return of the Crooklyn Dodgers."
Listen cause for your mind I got the right nutrition
We keeps it hard like fat asses and cases of Heineken
Here in Brooklyn, home of the warrior and villain
Trife type chicks Top Billin's, the anthem
Rastas smoke marijuana
Enterprising businessmen shoot dice on the corner
Excuse me while I light my spliff but some choose to sip
So bullets hit brains, when bottles hit lips
Clips whatever happend to 38 special
Now it's Desert Eagles, government issue
Probably the same one that killed Noriega
Chips that powered nuclear bombs, power my Sega
Subliminal hypnotism and colonialism
leaves most niggaz dead or in prison
In Crook-land, right hand cuts off the left hand
to spite the hand, jealous of the next man
So violent crimes, black on black plus mad crack to boot
Everybody can't rap, so most hustle and shoot
Make money money, get money take money
I can't understand that concept cause Jah rules everything around me
Fire burns the unjust like arson larsony
melt MC's with mental telepathy
With precision, we're slicin and dicin
Peace to the East New York, Perverted Monks, and Mike Tyson
Jeru makes me wanna cry sometimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opWYnUpNtG8
I'd say journalists are MCs just without a beat. I always found it interesting that there is always this tension between the two groups when many times they're all talking about the same things. In both fields you have some that are clearly telling the truth and others who are lying their asses off.
And watch out for Catman my brothers/He keep his strand slicked back like Scatman Caruthers
And how he rep on the mic/It's like the weapon from Krull
Who can turn the study hall, into a bloody brawl\When they get it twisted like the funnies on a silly puddy ball.
Don't appear too drunk/and let a stare turn into a "yeah you, punk."
now you got me queuing up every Doom album...
For fake, if he was Anita Baker's man
He'd take her for her masters, hit it once an' shake her hand
On some ol' thank ya ma'am an' ghost her
She could mind the toaster if she sign the poster
dwhite wins. having said that...
Watch the path of the black-one, super villain\He reps clubs for delf, in a drunken stupor chilling\ Ready and willing to inadvertently foil that\plan of any rhymer, whiner or spoiled brat
ok, ya'll sold me. I will commence my Doom downloading expeditiously.
It says something that I, no great aficionado of hip-hop, was originally turned on to MF Doom by way of an email list devoted to free-jazz and avant-garde music. A horn player recommended MM... Food, which I checked out, and proceeded to search out everything I could find of his. I've heard no rapper before or since who has blown me away the way that Mr. Dumile has. He's the best DJ next to J Dilla, too. Glad to hear that he's working on something new...
Nobody spawns lyric recital like MF...
"Came along ways\Since the days
We had to rhyme for rent\It was time well spent
vent it
spelt
dented
hell bented
and heaven sent it..."
Truly poetic, now if you'll excuse I must digest the poop and sell the poop on e-bay.
One more:
Rappers be on some, "You...you...you..."/
Forgot who they talking to, too much pork stew/
They need to not come out with nothing new/
Blew the whole shit up on some, "What this button do?"/
Doom cheat the game like walkthrough/
Run 'em, son 'em like Mr. Rourke do Tattoo
That would be "slay youse", not "huge".
yeesh, that is frightening, I listened to the exact same song this morning, just as randomly!
For a while a few years back I couldn't decide which was my favorite hip hop album of recent times: Cannibal Ox's Cold Vein or Madvillain's Madvillainy. But for a little while now I've thought that the edge goes to DOOM. He is my favorite.
do the statistics,
how he bust lyrics
its to futuristic for ballistics,
and far to eccentric for forensics.
I'm a newbie to MF Doom. Where should I start?
Start with Operation: Doomsday. Still his opus i think. Then Madvillain, MmFood, King Geedorah, and the VictorVaughns.
The way he sets this scene on Back End... brillaint
Dub it off your man, don't spend that ten bucks/
I did it for the advance, the back end sucks/
It's better than sittin up in a crack den wit the Mac 11
Yellin at your feinds and friends to duck/
There's feds at the door, oh it's just Fed Ex/
I thought I heard walkie talkies, must've been them redneck/
Neighbors of mine they fuckin with they CB/
And we in the spot watchin COPS on TV/
Blazin greens, thumpin Big's first cd/
Drinkin OE, hopin pigs don't see/
If they was psychic, they try ta give em the electric chair/
It's gettin hectic in here, and it's a election year
Growing up as a white kid in the sticks, this stuff doesn't connect with me on the first, most immediate level. Though I do share the experience of popping wheelies on my Schwinn.
But what I like is that if I stay with it, and dig a little, there's a lot to relate to.
I've been very stuck at certain times in my life, not making any progress, despite all efforts. And I know they are good efforts. Who hasn't?
Not that I have a clue about who or what Hellbourne or Free Power is.
I think I just had a pleasant heart attack. Good post. Dunbar's mask is still just as much part of our world as it was his...partly why I'm very disturbed by Arana's WaPo Column about Obama's potential un-blackness. Strange to say the least.
Dooooooooooom! I'm so grateful for this post.
I think I just had an eargasm.
"To write all night long, the hourglass is still slow, Flow from Hellborne to Free Power like Wilco. And still owe bills, pay dues forever"
This is a confusing lyric, in part because as far as I can tell it isn't Wilco. It's LILCo, which is an abbreviation of Long Island Lighting Company. This company provided power to parts of Long Island (possibly to Brooklyn as well). It had a reputation for being expensive and was unpopular as a whole, and it was replaced with the Long Island Power Authority.
I'm not 100% sure on the details here (I was awfully young at the time, so I'm just trying to put this back together from a few Google searches), but I think this is what he's talking about. It's amazing, but hey, he also mentions Doctor Zizmor and nobody who lives outside of New York would understand that either. For more LILCo info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Lighting_Company
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B01E1DE1E39F931A25752C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
Great post, though!
this is genius! I love this dude DOOM!!!
..IF YOU ASK ME, THEY'RE ALL A BUNCH OF SICK PUPS
WHO SEEM TO REPEAT THE SAME STUFF,JUST LIKE HICCUPS
NOWADAYS THE GAME IS ALL BUGGED OUT
PHONY LIKE BACK WHEN HAMMER, TRIED TO COME THUGGED OUT,
STOP IT! HE PULLS CARDS LIKE CARPET,
UNDERNEATH THE FEET, OF COWARDS THAT POP $#IT,
NASTY LIKE SPIT THE VERSE AND GO GARGLE
DONT FIT NO TYPE OF PROFILE, PSYCHOLOGICAL
ANY LAST WORDS? TIMES UP LIKE BOGGLE,
SUPPERVILLIAN RUN'EM LIKE HAMBURGERLAR..
ROGGLE ROGGLE,
ANOTHER ONE ASKED CAN HE HOLD THE MICROPHONE,
HE TOLD'EM SORRY MY BROTHER, YOU GOSTA GET YOUR OWN!!!!!
Doom brings it. as a former english teacher, this guy's as smart as they come with vivid illustrations and something we all can relate to. the kids loved it when i brought the fresh beats along with the lyrics that painted our picture.