 25/06/2009 squirts posin' as thuggers an hustlers
(el edo's??) closer than y'all ball huggers and jugglers
For DOOM, hip hop’s masked supervillain, this is the pivotal point in his latest album BORN LIKE THIS. It’s the last line of CELLZ, which tells the story of a vividly violent apocalyptic world. It’s typical DOOM – dense imagery and wordplay that tells a fictional three-dimensional story that has symbolic bearing on the real world in which we live.
‘That line is my favourite. To me it translates to a representation of hip hop and how this whole gangsta thing that’s somehow infiltrated has watered it down and is reflected back to the children so you got young men growing up thinking that they can portray that image, which is impossible to do. It only leads you to incarceration and Death Row. Then there are the women who feel pressured to be a certain way and look a certain way and act a certain way,’ he says.
‘It kinda points the finger at them and says look – do what you feel you think you should be doing but the truth is the truth and the creator knows what you’re doing. You have to answer to Him eventually anyway.’
DOOM’s eloquence is exhilarating. He’s a self-professed stickler for grammar and his delivery – both in rap and conversation – is insightful and challenging. BORN LIKE THIS. has been hotly anticipated, his first full-length solo record for nearly five years.
But he hasn’t always rapped in a metal mask under the guise of a get-rich-quick villain called DOOM. Underneath all that, and aside from his other alteregos of DOOM spin-off Viktor Vaughan, and a three-headed monster from outer space called King Geedorah, he’s a regular guy called Daniel Dumile. His hip hop career began as a rapper called Zev Love X who, with his brother Subroc, formed KMD in the late 80s. But tragedy struck when Subroc was killed in a car accident and KMD lost its contract with Elektra. Dumile disappeared for five years and emerged in 1998 as a masked supercriminal.
Why did you decided to rap under fabricated personas?
I stick to those old-school rules of rhyming where it’s all really creative. The things that people haven’t done are the things that are way out there, so I just go for the unbeaten path.
What is the ‘unbeaten path’ moment on your album that you’re particularly proud of?
GAZILLION EAR – the first song on the album. I always like to experiment with changing the beat and picking the rhymes so that particular song – that was a challenge for me. I wanted to do a song like back with Spoonie Gee and those guys who had records that were like seven minutes long and their rhyming took the whole record. I was aiming at that kinda feel but at the same time I keep a good description of what kinda guy the villain is. He’s a real go-getter – he’s got a get rich quick scheme going on so, I want to paint the picture at the beginning of the record of the type of character that this guy is, for those who are not familiar for him.’
It’s a pretty convincing picture. Do people ever confuse you with your supervillain alterego?
It happens here and there. I think people typecast emcees in a way that if you’re a writer and you write rhymes that you gotta be the character that you’re talking about. You can’t write for another character even though in every other genre, from screenplays to feature films, writers write for other characters. But in hip hop, if you’re writing then you have to be that guy.
I try to expand people’s minds a little bit more, especially in these times. That’s my contribution back, I guess – some creative thinking. I’m just showing these cats, look - it doesn’t have to be the way everyone says it has to be. New things come out every day and this is just a new side of hip hop. I have faith in the youth. I think most can wrap their minds around it.
How do you stay in character?
Some days it comes naturally. I make sure I keep a pen and a pad wherever I am so that when I do get an idea that’s geared towards any particular character I can write it down cos the flow’s in and out, know what I mean? Certain times when I’m on deadline and I really need to focus on one, I meditate up on it, get into a creative mode and it comes gradually. Creativity moves like a wave or a spiral. I compare it to surfing, so you try to ride that creative wave until you fall off and then you jump back on it again.
Does the mask help? Are you wearing it now?
Yeah I put it on here and there, know what I’m sayin’? But I think it’s more that the mask wears me.
Does it all go a bit Jim Carrey sometimes?
Yeah no doubt. You gotta be careful with that thing.
It must be mad to have people so convinced by your character that it’s hard for them to see you as a real person underneath it all.
I don’t wanna say I overdid it cos I guess it’s a good thing people are convinced.
You didn’t mess about!
Yeah I put everything into it – I’ll put all my heart in it and make it as convincing as possible. But I guess here and there I’ll put out a disclaimer so people don’t bug out too much.
Why are you now just DOOM and have dropped the MF?
It’s like dropping a title. You might be calling a guy Mr Henry but after a while he’s like, just call me John. This record’s more intimate to me. It’s a solo record and it’s being put out through major distribution so it’s like, yo, this is for people who wanna know the character or already know him. It has an up close and personal feel to it. So that’s why I said, just call me DOOM.
You rap in BALLSKIN – ‘get beat in the head with lead-pipe languages’. Are you deliberately complex with your wordplay?
Yeah – I try to make it as visual as possible just to carry the story well. Since we’re dealing with an audio format, you have to use your imagination, so I try and give it enough different analogies and perspectives so they can visualise what’s going on.
That’s why your style is so exciting. What’s your take on the hip hop industry these days?
I look at it like this; hip hop as a movement is constantly evolving. It stays pure in its form but when the industry gets involved, that’s when it gets watered down. You start dealing with offshoots that are called hip hop but are not really hip hop – the industry bunches it all into one thing and then a lot gets lost in translation. And when the industry gets involved, people are making money off it so you no longer have the focus of the art being the art. But that happens with everything and I always have faith that there’s a core audience and core group that’s still the pure, raw of it. There’s always people who want the correct translation.
The track RAP AMBUSH and its images of ‘rhyme-propelled grenades’ is a scathing indictment on how things are, but is positive at the same time.
No doubt. War’s an ugly thing and I superimpose what’s going on with the war with what’s going on in hip hop. It’s an invasion of an alien enemy into our land. That’s how I see it. People are putting out music that’s all about the money so the whole analogy is if this artform is like the oil and we’re trying to get control over it by invading it, then no one’s giving you that grassroots frontline team that’s gonna fight for it. We’ll get down and dirty and make it happen. I think it came out cool.
Do you see your music as strictly art? How aware are you of the commercial aspect?
It’s strictly art. I don’t pay attention to the commercial part as far as that being the determining factor in any of the creative process. I figure by now I know what I’m doing enough for the fans to hear it – I do it for me and I do it for the cats who know where I’m coming from and have like minds. If it can make me laugh and it’s speaking to me, then I know it’s speaking to someone else and it’s making someone else laugh. After that, the industry can look at it and they can figure out how to market it. But it’s already in its form. I don’t break the pattern.
A real stand-out cut on the record is STILL DOPE with Empress Starhh. Where did you find her?
She’s my homegirl from Atlanta. John Robinson [emcee from Scienz Of Life] introduced me to her. She’s a really lyrical girl and just as lyrical as I am, and I won’t say that about a lot of people. She’s very crafty with wordplay and she’s got a very fast vocabulary. I’m working on a record with her now, which should be out by the end of the year, so people can hear more of her.
Are you coming to the UK anytime soon?
I should be there. It’s gonna happen eventually. There’s a little bit of red tape but nothing too tough. It’s a matter of time, that’s all.
What do you think about people saying there have been imposters behind the mask doing your gigs for you?
 I’m just a writer. I’ll put whoever I need to put as the main character. But sometimes people still think it’s not me and I’m like, it’s never me really. I’m me. He’s just the character. Whoever has the mask on is the character at the time.
That’s a neat sidestep right there…
I think we can do more with hip hop. People say it’s an imposter – it’s not. I know a guy – I hired him to do it. That ain’t an imposter! People need to expand their minds and they just have to get it. They get it when it comes to films. You can get anybody to play a part. When I’m on stage, it’s a show. Expect anything and everything but don’t expect to see me. Not that anybody knows what I look like anyway so even if it was me, people would still be saying it’s not me. Once people stop expecting to see the guy and get into the music and understanding it’s about the character. The person playing the character can always change. To have me jumping about on stage is just played out.
Here’s hoping that you sort out that red tape business.
Yeah I’ll definitely make my way out there. I might be in the crowd, I might be backstage… You never know.
Words and Interview: Helene Dancer
Extracted from Notion Magazine 39. To subscribe to Notion Magazine visit our subscriptions page. Notion Magazine is a bi-monthly (6-yearly) magazine, with an annual subscription priced at £18.99. |
