Why you should listen to MF DOOM

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Dalton Sargent, EMC Music Contributor

Music. It’s a vital part of every culture. Especially American. Rooted in Blues and Jazz, America is all about inventing new genres. Rap emerged from heavy jazz sampling and rhythmic schemes. Old school rap is always my favorite to listen to. And one of the most important old school rappers is MF DOOM.

MF DOOM was a British-American rapper and record producer. His intricate wordplay, signature mask, and his flow are bar none to any other rappers. As Tyler The Creator puts it; “He’s your rapper’s favorite rapper.” His lyricism is insane; every word spoken has meaning behind it. I am not a big fan of modern rap, but DOOM is one of those rappers that just catch my attention and I find myself listening to him on a regular basis.

His production and combos with producers are always pushing the boundaries and expanding on the definition of rap. One of my favorite albums is “Keys To The Kuff,” a duo project with Jneiro Jarel. The beats are experiment, and every track is something new or a concept I’ve never seen done before. Take the track “Guv’nor”. The opening lines follow “Catch a throatful from the fire vocaled, ash and molten glass like eyjafjallajökull.” Name any other rapper that could open with a line about a volcano in Iceland. This is just one of many examples across his discography.

DOOM is a must listen to for anyone with an open mind. If you do choose to listen, start with MM.FOOD, Madvilliany or Doomsday. These are some of his more tame albums and will get you used to the way he rhymes and his accent.

Having an open mind for music is vital. A lot of people know that I’m very stuck up in my own ways when it comes to music taste. And when Kyle showed me DOOM for the first time, I could have decided to just close my ears and not listen. But I chose to listen to some on my own time and ended up finding an amazing artist from a genre I was not a fan of. So try new things. You never know what you might discover.