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CD Spotlight

With its murky beats and kinetic rhymes, MF Doom and producer Madlib's blunted collaboration Madvillainy found it's way onto many music critics' 2004 Top-10 lists.

On his latest project, Doom, the masked villain, returns with MM Food, the follow-up to his 1999 debut disc Operation: Doomsday. Since Doomsday, the emcee formerly known as Zev Love X has dropped a trio of works under the aliases Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah, and during his recent visit to San Antonio, Doom enthralled audiences with his metal visage and laidback flows. There are also whispers that some of the titles on his latest LP were inspired by San Anto's tasty cuisine.

This time around, Doom handles most of the beats himself, resulting in a hip-hop buffet that fuses classic Spiderman and Fantastic Four cartoons with nourishing compositions, including the beat-box driven "Hoe Cakes" and "Deep Fried Frenz," which puts a jazzy spin on Whodini's classic ode to camaraderie. Madlib returns for a turn behind the boards on the loping "One Beer" and the much hyped Molemen are represented by crew-member PNS on the too-short "Kon Queso." The album also benefits from appearances by the always refreshing Count Bass D on "Potholderz" and Mr. Fantastik on "Rapp Snitch Knishes." Along with MF Grimm, these guests help round out Doom's fantastic family.

CD Spotlight
MM Food

MF Doom
(Rhymesayers)

To his credit, Doom's comida theme never wears thin, largely due to a confident delivery which is coincidentally akin to that of Ghostface Killa, minus the urgency and arcane references. Perhaps more than any current emcee, Doom is consciously aware of the vaudeville that contemporary hip-hop has become. As a writer, he has evolved immensely from his KMD beginnings and unlike most commercial rappers, has refused to barter personal tragedy for professional gain. Although not as impressive as Madvillainy, MM Food is a much more accessible triumph for Doom and the fledgling MPLS record label Rhymesayers. Bon Appetit.

— M. Solis

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Tags: Music Etc., Music, music