Hip Hop

Top Ten Raps – MF DOOM – Rhinestone Cowboy

And then suddenly, we became too old for rap.  The floodgate of options became the central resource of the distribution of the art, yet there was no curation. The long held outlets fell one by one and took a culminated 60 years of culture with it.

There are a few that remain, but were are our record stores.

All of the songs of our youth have been reissued, repackaged, the stories and narratives reformatted and retold.

Where do we fit. Did the aging jazz face this? Did the aging punks before Bad Brains morphed into RUN-DMC?  DOOM must have felt this as he and Madlib were doing bong hits on a roof in the West Coast, creating Madvillany.

Or maybe, you know, weed.

Number 10 in my top ten belongs to Daniel Dumile, Zev Love X, MF DOOM, Madvillian, King Geedorah, Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn.

Rhinestone Cowboy – MF DOOM
You love to hear the story, again and again
of how the ‘Peach Fuzz‘ boys recorded a hit for the win,
Electra let Black Bastards sit in the dust bin
Subroc got the call and had to check back in,
And Zev turned DOOM

And DOOM begat Villan
And Villan spawned Viktor, Geedorah

it was thrilling.

“Hold a cold one

like he hold the old gun

like he hold the microphone

and stole the show for fun

Or a foe for ransom

flows is handsome

O’s in tandem, anthem, random, tantrum”

The monotone voice, the non-faltering prose, the cultural references.

Its as if each line is written independently, every one its own declaration.  Many carry double meanings or hyper visual descriptions.
Yet never departing from that party rocking braggadocio, word to Moe Dee.

“Set the stage with a goal,
to have the game locked in a cage

getting shocked with a pole”

Not to overlook the first MF DOOM album, Doomsday which has the beautiful title track on it.
Madvillan was all of that album distilled into shorter 45′ rpm styled songs.
Extremely potent, one and done.

DOOM is the remainder, of all those who were interviewed by Fab 5 Freddy, Doctor Dre and Ed Lover,
Rap boiled down to its concentrated essence.
And now spoonfulls are being fed to the babies.
DOOM wears the mask, maybe he is too old for rap anymore, he is a teacher now.
DOOM is for the children.

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