Critical Voices: DOOM

Mystery man Daniel Dumile (a.k.a. MF DOOM a.k.a. Viktor Vaughn a.k.a. Zevlove X a.k.a. King Geedorah) is finally back. “Can it be I stayed away too long?” he asks on “Take That,” a standout cut from Born Like This, his first full-length since 2005’s Adult Swim-loving collab with Danger Mouse, The Mouse and the Mask. More than four years for most artists would get a resounding yes (Guns ‘n’ Roses excepted); for a rapper once so prolific he released three career-defining albums in a nine-month span, Dumile probably had some fans thinking he had died.
Ask him and he’ll probably give you some story about how he was “re-born”—he’s adopted yet another moniker (just “DOOM,” straight-up and in all caps) and found a new record label. Ask me, however, and I might call that a hard argument to make—Born Like This sounds like Dumile-by-numbers: superhero samples, dark beats, and goofy lyrics where wordplay and non-sequiturs dominate over meaning.
Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing—DOOM’s position on the fringes of hip-hop means it’s okay if the super villain isn’t quite moving with the times. Released in the same summer under different monikers, Vaudeville Villain and Take Me to Your Leader are a career apart in terms of subject matter and beats.
Now Dumile is back and coming hard, and although there are a few rough patches on Born Like This, DOOM never sounds like he’s phoning it in. The album completely eschews choruses, allowing DOOM’s gnarly wordplay to shine through.
Lines like “Don’t look now keep walkin’/ Traded three beans for this cow cheap talkin’/ Hawk been stalkin’ here to Weehawken often” don’t really make any sense but they are jaw-droppingly awesome to listen to. Dumile’s other personas were known for their wordplay, but never to this extent.
The beats on the album don’t hurt either, allowing even the most leftfield lyrical ramblings to go down easy. Luckily, MF DOOM’s self-production is as great as his Special Herbs series, and the guest producers are well-chosen. The selections by the late J Dilla are a little unsettling though—DOOM is rapping over some of the best instrumental cuts from the beloved Donuts which we’ve come to love on their own terms. But that’s the beauty of Born Like This: it finds Dumile on top of his game while sprinkling on just enough excellent guests to mix things up a bit. Roll up the spliffs: DOOM’s back.
Voice’s Choices: “That’s That,” “Cellz,” “Angelz”