Johnny Boy has done a good job selecting some top draw MF Doom/Dangerdoom tunes, I'll give a quick run through of the fella.
MF DoomMF Doom stands for Metal Face Doom as artist Daniel Dumile always hides his face behind his Dr. Doom mask. Yep, this fella isn't normal, and that's his greatest talent.
With the extortion of rap music these days, where anyone who wants to shift a record has to rhyme out their shopping list and little black book , it's refreshing to find a character, and that can be used in it's most literal term, that rejects the notions of what a modern day rapper should be.
On albums such as "Mm Food" MF Doom joins his album together beautifully with a constant theme of food, when collaborating with Danger Mouse for the DangerDoom project the same was done with the Aqua Teen Hunger Force / Adult Swim (American TV shows) universe.
It gets a bit silly sometimes but it's never "normal" and always fresh, who else could come out with "Beef Rap", a rap about, well, beef!
It's often light-hearted, pop-culture laden (comics and cartoons being most prevelant) and manages to stay within the confines of art rather than parody.
MF Doom is the most successful of Dumile's creations, most probably because rather than seek fame and hide behind a mask he generates interest through collaborations (DangerDoom, but also a highly acclaimed union with Madlib called "Madvillain").
Beef Rap:
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/E_7O7emrF6A&hl=en&fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/E_7O7emrF6A&hl=en&fs=1</a>]]>Viktor VaughnThe name Viktor Vaughn is the bastardised version of Victor Von Doom, the real name of Dr. Doom.
Viktor Vaughn allowed Dumile to have the production taken out of his hands and put into somebody elses, with the likes of RJD2 one fo the names to produce a track.
Viktor Vaughn is alot more real than MF Doom, while still being totally off the wall there are alot more real issues on the records and allows Dumile to open up in ways that MF Doom doesn't.
It's no surprise that one of the few times that Dumile ever let part of his face be seen was for a Viktor Vaughn video, he's trying to let the real him show through.
Viktor Vaughn - Let me watch
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hzUQ-VIi7pQ&hl=en&fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/hzUQ-VIi7pQ&hl=en&fs=1</a>]]>Metal FingersMetal fingers is yet another alias, yes Dr. Doom has metal fingers, in which a series of albums have been released named in an iterative fashion "Special Herbs 1", "Special Herbs 2", "Special Herbs 3" - with each track on every album being named after a herb: Saffron, Charnsuka, etc.
These are virtually all instrumentals, focussed solely on Dumile's excellent production skills.
If you don't get the link, these are probably listened to with some "special herbs"
Metal Fingers - Charnsuka
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/y7XotkoDvUY&hl=en&fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/y7XotkoDvUY&hl=en&fs=1</a>]]>King GeedorahKing Geedorah was a three-headed golden dragon lizard monster from the Godzilla films. It's no surprise Dumile took a liking to a creature with many heads/faces as it's plain to see.
The King Geedorah works allow Dumile to step away from the mic and feature rarely vocally. What it does allow though is for him to again show off his production skills while retaining control of the album. However he still gets behind the mic every now and again and it's as good and eclectic as ever.
King Geedorah - Fazers
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/jRn9BRo4Igw&hl=en&fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/jRn9BRo4Igw&hl=en&fs=1</a>]]>So there we have it, the many faces of MF Doom.
Who began rapping in a poet's café and is not your run of the mill rapper.
