Key to the Kuffs

by JJ DOOM

After his last solo album a few years back, and the frequent reports of him not showing up in person for concerts he's booked, I'd given up on DOOM (or is it MF DOOM again?).  The guy was mad talented back around the time of Madvillainy, which remains his greatest album, but it felt like he'd lost the plot.

Why did I buy Key to the Kuffs then?  Well, I find his collaborator on this project, Brazilian producer Jneiro Jarel, to be a pretty exciting beatmaker, and I was curious to see how his rather left-field approach would work with DOOM; at the least, I figured this would be a good beat cd, and that I'd just ignore Mr. Dumile, if I didn't like what he provided.

Imagine my surprise then, to find all my expectations upended.  DOOM comes correct on this album, in a way we haven't heard in some time.  He's back to his usual, nonsensical, smooth flowing self, and he rides these beats like he's actually interested in completing the project; something I haven't felt from him in some time.

As for Jarel, well he brings in some more conventional beats than I would have expected.  He still sounds like himself, but it's clear he thought about what DOOM's strengths are, and worked to support them.  This is still no Madvillainy, but it is a solidly good hip-hop album that holds up to repeated plays.

Ohnomite and Dr. No's Tornado Funk

by Oh No

Oh No does like his gimmicks.  A few years ago he crafted an entire hip-hop album (Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms)using only samples from Galt McDermot's musicals.  It was interesting, but ultimately not all that impressive.

I feel the same way about Ohnomite, his new album on FiveDayWeekend that is crafted solely from sounds taken from the soundtrack to Dolemite, the classic blaxploitation film.  The beats are very nice, but the collection of rappers that Oh No gathered is pretty uninspired, as are their lyrics.

Oh No stuck with many of the same old MCs that fill the less-interesting corners of Stones Throw's catalogue - Guilty Simpson, MED, Roc C, Wildchild, and Frank Nitt.  He added to this mix some perpetual undergrounders on the cusp of popularity, like Evidence, Alchemist, Chino XL, Termanology, Roc Marciano, Phil Da Agony (who I quite like, actually), and LMNO.

There are some impressive names here - MF DOOM holds up his track nicely, and appearances by Rapper Pooh (I guess he dropped the Big in his name), Phife Dawg, and Erick Sermon add some respectability to the affair, but not a lot of excitement.

In contrast to that is Dr. No's Tornado Funk, which is an instrumental project built around many of the same samples.  Oh No's best work is usually his instrumental stuff (I love his Dr. No's Oxperiment), so it comes as no surprise to me that I play this album much more frequently than the other.  It has the energy and excitement that the other project is lacking, and it's nice to hear No's masterful beats without uninteresting lyrics and dull delivery diluting them.

I'm not going to suggest that Oh No stick to staying behind the boards, but he would benefit from working with a more exciting stable of lyricists.

Madlib Medicine Show No. 12 - Raw Medicine: Madlib Remixes

Remixed and Produced by Madlib

I feel like the Madlib Medicine Show ended up being a bit of a disappointment in the end.  The monthly schedule was abandoned a while ago, and the last few entries (particularly the 9th one) weren't all that impressive.  When I first heard this twelfth (and final?) disc, I didn't much like it at first.  With repeated listening it grew on me, but I still feel like it's a little too long and self-indulgent (despite being, at 60 minutes, one of the shorter entries in this series).

Basically, Madlib has taken a bunch of older hip-hop songs, and remixed them, filling in the space between them with way too many interludes and skits that may be funny the first couple of times you hear them (especially if you're high), but quickly become tired and played out.  Artists that appear on this disc include J Dilla, MF Doom, Ghostface, Q-Tip, Phil da Agony, Sadat X, Guilty Simpson, MED, Cappadonna, The Clipse, Royce the 5'9, Musiq Soulchild, Frank N Dank, AZ, Royal Flush, Kardinal Offishall, and a bunch more.

As a background mix, it's pretty nice, and Madlib's beats are great, as always, but the disc lacks any kind of unity or consistency, and that makes it pretty forgettable.

Crate Digging: Dwight Spitz

by Count Bass D

Count Bass D is a massively underrated and slept on talent.  He is a beat maker and rapper who has been shuffling around the more underground parts of the underground for more than a decade, yet he has received very little recognition, which I always find kind of odd.

Dwight Spitz, his 2002 album, is a decent piece of music.  He produced all of the tracks on the album save one (contributed by J. Rawls), and lays down vocals on roughly half of them.  He has a unique flow - laconic and unhurried, with a deep timbre to his voice.  His beats remind me a little of MF Doom's style of production, although these are often more pop-oriented.

He is joined on this album by a number of different guests.  Doom is on two tracks, although strangely he is only credited with one, but it's clearly him on 'Make a Buck'.  Edan shows up, spitting the same lyrics he uses on his own brilliant Beauty and the Beat album.  MF Grimm drops a verse, and Hezekiah shows up twice, long before he began to make a name for himself.  In typical self-indulgent fashion, the Count has his young daughter singing on a couple of tracks, but it's all good, because the beat is pretty nice.

This is not a brilliant album, but it does have some very nice moments, such as on 'Subwoofer (Dumile)', when Dwight raps on his chorus, "I'm not Doom's brother, but I will rock your subwoofer, that's why they call me Count Bass."  The album fizzles out towards the end, becoming more varied and a little weak, like it should have ended with the twenty-first track.  Still, this is the Count at the height of his game, and it's worth checking out.

Born Like This

by DOOM

I'm not sure how to approach this album, which is the reason why I haven't attempted to write about it before now. I bought this when it first came out, played the hell out of it for a few days, and then promptly forgot it. Doom's first album in years could have easily dropped in 2004. Aside from a very ill-advised autotune hook (on 'Supervillainz'), there is nothing on this disc to show that time has moved forward.

Doom is spitting the same fire he always does, except now it seems like his flow has become monotonous, and his puerile jokes even more puerile and inconsequential (I'm looking at you 'Batty Boyz').

Beat-wise, there's not a lot to be excited about either. There are a few recycled beats ('Lightworks' always sounds good, but again, it's 2009; 'That's That' uses a favourite Special Herb, and 'Angelz' was like my favourite song of whatever year it first came out), and others that just sound like the standard Doom fare. Jake One understands Doom's aesthetic, and provides four decent tracks, although I like Madlib's better. The villain rounds out the production himself, except for one other Dilla joint.

The thing about this album is that individually, many of the songs are very strong. Arranged together, as they are here, they tend to cancel one another out, and become a little boring.

In terms of guest shots, Raekwon and Slug both provide killer verses, although Slug gets a little drowned out in the mediocrity of the people he shares his track with (who the hell is Mobonix? The Lego Moby?). I was hoping for a lot more from this album, but then, I think that's how people generally feel about Doom these days, so I shouldn't be surprised.

I will give full props to whoever designed the album art. It's clearly the same people who do work for Jneiro Jarel, and it looks great.

Jay Stay Paid

by J Dilla

I've never been a big fan of projects made up of posthumous work of an artist, especially when those projects were conceived after the artist's death. They too often lack heart, and feel more like a cash-grab than anything else.

This project is different though, and I think that is completely due to the fact that Pete Rock is billed as 'Music Supervisor'. He manages to make sure that the 28 tracks here coordinate with each other, and that they bring honor to Dilla's legacy.

There are a variety of things to be found on this album. Some tracks are brand new Dilla instrumentals, while others feature more familiar Dilla beats, with new vocals laid down by a variety of artists. We get to hear from people who were often associated with Dilla, like Phat Kat, Frank Nitty, and Illa J (although that's a bit of a posthumous association still), but also from artist that we only wish Dilla had had more chances to work with, like Havoc, (MF) Doom, Black Thought, and Raekwon. I'd say the Doom and Black Thought tracks are worth the purchase of this disk alone.

I hope there aren't too many more Dilla projects in the pipe. As much as I respect the man, and miss his music, too much output now will simply water down his memory. This album is a fitting memorial, and works nicely as Dilla's final word.

White Van Music

by Jake One
Jake One first caught my attention with his beats on De La Soul's 'The Grind Date', and I started noticing his name popping up from time to time in different liner notes. He didn't have an immediately recognizable sound, but he did make nice beats. When I heard that Rhymesayers was releasing his first solo album, and I saw who would be featured on it, I figured it was a safe purchase.

This is a good album, and I think could have been a great album, had a few songs been trimmed off of it. Now, this becomes a matter of personal bias, as it is the more mainstream songs featuring artists like Freeway, Young Buck, Evidence, Prodigy, Alchemist, and MOP that I would lose.

The tracks that feature more underground artists are what kept this in my car for so long. Little Brother has a nice track on here, as do Elzhi & Royce Da 5'9", Blueprint, and Black Milk & Nottz. Among the best tracks is 'The Truth', with Freeway and Brother Ali - a strange pairing for sure, but one that works exceptionally well. Posdnuos and Slug record 'Oh Really', another fantastic track, and another unusual partnership. These two songs together remind me a little of that "Think Differently" project of a couple of years back.

Of course, the big draw of the album are the two tracks featuring MF Doom. He still comes correct, and spits in his usual eccentric style. It's nice to see that the man is still recording.

As for Jake One's beats - they are consistently good throughout the album, and he shows a lot of promise for both underground and mainstream appeal. This album comes with an instrumental disk.