DOOM

Born Like This Promo

(Lux Records)

March 25th, 2009

M.F. Doom was a busy little bee for the first half of the decade. New releases as Viktor Vaughn, King Geedorah, Danger Doom and Madvillain, as well as his main stay moniker appeared to be dropping every other day. Gradually things slowly died down and started to get a little weird for the metal faced M.C. Reports trickled in that he was lip-syncing at shows, having a body double make appearances for him, and some were going as far claiming he was dead. 2009 is a new year for M.F. Doom, and with it brings a new name and a new record for the masked rapper. Apparently he has decided to drop the M.F. for his upcoming release, BORN LIKE THIS, due this spring on Lex records, opting just for DOOM, all in capital letters mind you. Musically speaking, if the rest of the record sounds anything like this 5 song sampler, it doesn’t appear much has changed since DOOM decided to scale back his output frequency. Production credits for the full album are still unknown other than DOOM enlists Rhymesayers alum, Jake One, for the first single “Ballskin” and borrows a J Dilla beat of the same name from his Donuts LP on “Lightworks”. Everything found on this sampler is trademark DOOM though; the beats have a certain lightness to them yet manage to hold an edge and his lyrics are still insanely hard to decipher but somehow it call comes together nicely. No new direction for DOOM here, that’s fine though, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

-Julian Haggar

Youtube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBT2mFY75FI