Altsounds - Doom - Born Like This [Album]

Being one of the most alternative rappers in the business today that exists not on the Def Jux label MF Doom is normally a refreshing breath of fresh air from the usual three ‘core’ elements of hip-hop: guns, girls and drugs. As the masked alter ego combined with Viktor Vaughn (a play on the first name of the Marvel Comics villain Victor Von Doom) and King Gedorrah (based on a Godzilla villain) side projects he brings cartoon and food inspired tracks that are well worth listening to.

Following through from his breakthrough collaboration with the Producer and Gnarls Barkley member Dangermouse in DangerDoom: the Mouse and The Mask MF Doom returns with his latest album (after a few years of controversy over supposed live performances that were using a backing vocal track whilst someone else performs…) but with some significant changes. Firstly MF Doom has decided to drop the MF from his name and become Doom, whether this an evolution or a way to become ‘mainstream’ I’m not entirely sure. Secondly he decided to use no new beats, on this sampler alone there is only three songs produced by Doom himself, the others are done by the late J Dilla and the producer Jake One.

The main criticism is that although using J Dilla’s beat as a tribute to a Producer who was well respected is great, I expected him to use it more to it’s potential. And there-in lies the biggest problem in that the songs can never be commercially accessible in the long run due to their length. The only song I feel stands out is the guest appearance by Ghostface Killah from the Wu-Tang Clan under his alter ego of the Iron Man Tony Starks (the extra s for obvious reasons) called Angelz contrasting the two ‘alter ego’s lives.

Overall, after Dangerdoom this feels like a step backwards for Doom. Maybe an album using Ghostface as a more regular collaborator could have worked better which is a shame given that my personal opinion was to look out for Born Like This as a major contender which sadly it is not.