By my count, he’s released one proper album in the last decade (JJ DOOM) and that was shite.
He’s nearly 50. Very few rappers are tearing it up at that age. He felt like an anomaly even 15 years ago.
My guess is he’s made a decent amount of money, can live off reissues and the odd live performance cheque. That and his fairly turbulent life with his deportation and his son. Just isn’t hungry anymore. Certainly sounds a shadow of himself on most recent (and not so recent) guest appearances.
That said those DJ Muggs collaboration tracks that flew under the radar were decent. Would like to hear them do a whole project but ehhhh ain’t happening is it
crazy. somewhere in my mind i just feel like rappers never age and are stuck at whatever age they were when my favorite work of theirs was created. i love being a part of watching rap age, it’s all new territory so its interesting to see the paths they take. i get to see e40 on tv once or twice per week cos he sits court-side for warriors home games and im just happy that he’s been able to stay relevant all these years later (not just relevant but actually still creating). doom probably has gone the way that most will go, just kind of moved on not interested in the creative push any more. comfortable. dre3000 has chosen a similar path, missy elliott, mos def etc. some cling to days gone by while the landscape has completely moved on from them (eminem). some just cling to their core fanbase and just keep those embers glowing. idk just spitballin here ive probably talked about this before ha.
not sure where i’d rank this album in my doom list. outside of madvillainy i think ive always just made playlists of the stuff i really like off each project. this was the first doom project i ever bought and it took me years to appreciate.
anyone know who’s done dooms album art? it’s m/l all top notch.
I doubt he’s made that much money (although I hope he has). I get what you’re saying but that ten year period was so amazing - up there with the greats in all of popular music, not just hip hop - that it seems surprising to me that there isn’t more there still. You see little sparks of it from time to time (some of his verses in the Czarface album were good, as were bits of the JJ Doom and NehruvianDoom albums) but you’re right to say that he sounds a bit demotivated.
Probably the difficulties in his personal life are a big part of it, but of course he’s had to deal with tragedy in his life before and to a large degree his ‘classic period’ grew out of his brother’s death and the end of KMD.
He keeps teasing stuff like a KMD album or the GhostDoom album, either of which might be great. I’ll keep the faith.
OK, I’ll rise to that one:
Madvilliany
Take Me to Your Leader
Operation Doomsday
The Mouse and the Mask
Vaudeville Villain
Born Like This
Mmm Food
Venomous Villain
Key to the Kuffs
NehruvianDoom
I doubt he’s rich but he probably doesn’t have to work. Just releases a vinyl reissue or merchandise or plays a few headline shows to tide him over
Yes. Had a bad case of this whilst listening to Prodigy’s audiobook.
Had a quick look at the inlay for VV. Said it was by M McDonald at a company called Lazy R. Probably no longer around.
I do know that the Operation: Doomsday! cover was done by Lord Scotch/KEO, aka Blake Lethem, the brother of author Jonathan Lethem and apparently one of the first white rappers in NYC. He also designed and made his masks.
Jason Jagel did MM…FOOD and the Operation: Doomsday! reissue.
Jeff Jank did Madvillain and apparently was partly influenced by Madonna’s S/T album. Although they both just look like black and white portraits to me.
The others kind of blend into one for me.
think it’d be this for me too, with a massive gulf between 5 & 6
I think the MM…Food cover is wonderfully mental. I’ve only just realised that the cereal actually has The Thing’s (AKA Ben Grimm) head floating around in it and the box says GM Grimm on the side. And who is that under the table?
I have a particular fondness for the artwork in the ALL CAPS video. I had a great t-shirt of that for a while that I wore until is disintegrated.
Oh, so good. I actually bought one of those vinyl figures. Was (am) a total Stan.
Think this covers all the ones I consider DOOM albums
Madvillain
Operation Doomsday
Mm Food
Take me to Your Leader
Born Like This
Vaudeville Villain
The Mouse and the Mask
…
VV2
JJ DOOM
Fucking Hell, this interviewer is hilariously bad. DOOM is great though, really enjoyed this.
this was the only one I knew cos of stones throw. stones throw creative team does stellar stuff. thanks for the other info gonna dive deeper into this. even the KMD album covers are good. i wonder if doom had/has creative oversight on all design.
oh yea for sure. reminds of the original batman animated series which ive been watching back with my kids.
From what I’ve heard, he definitely does. He talks about the MM…FOOD cover on that podcast that I posted, and I also heard a podcast with Blake Lethem where he talks about DOOM pausing an old Marvel cartoon and tracing the image of Doctor Doom that he wanted to use for Operation Doomsday straight off the screen.
He did the KMD ones as well. The illustration on Bl_ck B_st_rds was done by DOOM. Just listening to a podcast with Dante Ross and he mentioned it. Listening to a lotta hip hop podcasts at the moment as you may have noticed…
