Number 36: MM...FOOD by MF DOOM
Release: November 16th, 2004
Genre: Hip-Hop
Favorite Tracks: Rapp Snitch Knishes, Kon Karne, Vomitspit
Where I heard it:
With the advancement of communications I've experienced in my lifetime, I've never considered myself much of a social media mogul. I posted a lot in high school to sites like Facebook, and even played around on MySpace as a juvenile, but I've fallen off of it almost entirely since I graduated. That is, with one glaring exception: Reddit. My God, I probably browse Reddit for an hour daily minimum. It all started back in the second semester of my senior year in 2014, when I was inspired to create an account after hearing of the interesting content that resided there. In my first year as a Redditor, I fully immersed myself into the culture of the site's niche communities that I was interested in at the time. One of the first subreddits I subscribed to was r/HipHopHeads, a prospective look at some of the genre's greatest accomplishments through the opinions of scholarly minds. As my music taste was gravitating towards hip-hop during this time, it was a perfect combination to spend countless hours browsing during free time in the computer lab. A topic of conversation that often arose from newbies was where to begin as an outsider to hip-hop, and the top comment always seemed to be the same: MF DOOM. I hadn't heard a single second of this guy's music, and I already was familiar with his status in the rap game. It took a while for my understanding of the genre to deepen over the years to give DOOM a fair shot, but his landmark album MM...FOOD eventually landed with me after shelving it for so long.
Try the straight pliers if not the vise grips
A real price saver way to acquire nice whips
What a steal for real on wheels of steel
Stunner a funner summer number one meal deal bummer
A bizarre phenomenon, is your armor on?
Take ya cash coma or break ya fast like Ramadan
~ Kon Karne
What to expect:
To tell you the truth, I'm not incredibly familiar with the deep lore behind MF DOOM's numerous alter egos. Between King Geedorah, Madvillain, Viktor Vaughn, and DOOM, it's tough to keep all his recording aliases straight. What remains consistent across all these acts is the immaculate bar flow in their raps, often touted as one of the best of all-time. MF DOOM's style shows clear influence from street rapping and freestyling, showcasing the incredible ability to link subjects and rhymes together in harmony with uninterrupted sequence. In the case of MM...FOOD (an anagram of MF DOOM), it resembles instances of freestyle rappers polling their audience for topics to rap about on the fly with impressive quickness and acuity. Appropriately, MM...FOOD revolves completely around the subject of food, covering issues like overconsumption, shady industry practices, and personal health, all cleverly weaved into commentary about the rap game. In fact, the entire track list references a different food or drink that dominates the lyrical content of each song without much literal connotation. Further establishing the theme, MF DOOM includes a grocery store's worth of brand names scattered across his rhymes, culminating toward the album's finale Kookies which is loaded with brands. MM...FOOD also features select guest rappers like Angelika and 4ize on Guinnesses and frequent contributor Mr. Fantastik on Rapp Snitch Knishes to assist him in his gastronomic journey. Interweaved within DOOM's mesmerizing raps on MM...FOOD are segues that stitch together various snippets of clips from public access television from the 70's, most notably from old Marvel cartoons that include the inspiration for DOOM's stage appearance, Doctor Doom. These vocalized segments serve to explain the overarching narrative of DOOM's rise to prominence from a tragic backstory, and allow for intermittent breaks within the action for the listener to process the dense bars that preceded a track. While DOOM's rap style is persistent across all his work, MM...FOOD's emphasis on jazz in its backing tracks brings out the suave delivery in his lyrical approach, reinforced by a solid concept that remains faithful through to the end.
Wheat Thins, Saltines, or Triscuits
Matzos or Cheez-Its
Catch sugar fits every time that he sees
Chips Ahoy, double chocolate chunk
Something with the bubble and the junk in the trunk
Even the Oreos, no matter what the weather
Always keep 'em dipped in milk and suck together
~ Kookies
Why it's my favorite:
When I wrote my article on Aesop Rock's Labor Days, I mentioned Aesop's prolific knowledge of the English language as a significant factor toward my love for the album. Although MF DOOM's vocabulary isn't as expansive as Aesop Rock, the manner DOOM handles his diction is much more comprehensible and enjoyable in comparison. I haven't heard a hip-hop artist utilize such frisky wordplay so deliberately before DOOM, which has since earned him the title of 'your favorite rapper's favorite rapper'. Despite never achieving mainstream success, you don't have to look far to find an artist that cites MF DOOM as a career influence. Even among the fandom, it's exciting to connect with other listeners that are far more educated than me on the mythical creature that is MF DOOM. This rap community is about as underground as DOOM himself, but the culture he helped establish bred one of the most accepting places to help me further understand what rap is all about. You have acts within the genre that claim fame and fortune, or tout acts of violence as accolades, but albums like MM...FOOD don't take their reputation as a figure head too seriously, instead focusing on the ultimate point of performance: the music. MF DOOM is so well versed in his craft, he makes rapping seem easy and approachable for those who may not be initiated into the club quite yet. Well, consider MM...FOOD your ticket to initiation. Turns out everybody on Reddit was right - don't tell them that, though.
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