MF Doom Production Article !

This for all the Doom Fans out there!!


Metalface himself after putting up a good fight in Battle of the Beats 1, introduces himself to the Alpha-N-Omega community... Also go pick up that "Black Bastards" LP... Everyone welcome MF Doom...


ANO: What was the catalyst behind the change in style, both production wise and lyrically... do you feel it is a logical progression from "Black Bastards"? Or were you trying to totally reinvent yourself?

DOOM: That's a good question... Well as far as production, it's a continuation from "Black Bastards"... I mixed 80's records with 90's hip-hop stuff... I did that on the "Black Bastards" album on "What a ***** Know"... As far as lyrically, that's when I took to the next shit style wise...

ANO: What kind of equipment do you use to make beats?

DOOM: Well it varies... On the KMD album we used mainly the SV-1 for the "Mr. Hood"... and sometimes a Casio keyboard... It had crazy filters... We did the "Black Bastards" with the SV-10 (rackmount version)... and the MPC-60 for sequencing... We used the MPC 2000 and 3000 for the "Doomsday" and did the drums in stereo... We chose stereo because there's sound on the left and right... so there's a wider spectrum of sound with both sides present. A good stereo sound is something to keep....

ANO: I noticed that some of your drum programming isn't quantized and it's flipped live. Do you think producers let drum machines limit their freedom as far as drum programming?

DOOM: Yeaah that's a good question... Yeah me and some of my partners that rhyme, we discuss the same shit... We feel that some drums are too quantized.. and it's too much on the 1 and the 8... Sometimes I'll quantize, but I'll truncate the snare so it'll come late... We get a more natural feel... Also, we quantize our drums to sound off-beat on purpose.. So sometimes when you think we're not quantizing, we really are...

ANO: Today, most hip-hop producers lift samples from 70's records. What inspired you to take a sample from an 80's R&B record?

DOOM: That's the shit that I grew up on... I remember that shit from Barbeques... I said, "**** it yo"... This album is gonna be like an ill mixtape...

ANO: You used Atlantic Starr.. I see...

DOOM: Yeah I used their shit.. twice as a matter of fact...

ANO: Do you try to balance your responsibilities as an emcee and as a producer?

DOOM: Yeah no question... I try to keep them both at 110%.. but actually to me, I'm a producer first... I do the beats, and I got so many.. I might as well lace them... Being an emcee helps with my prodcution. I know the spacing and how the drums need to be layered... Also as an emcee, I catch some shit other producers can't catch... As an emcee, I can put the pauses where the **** I want them.. all the drops and shit were done before the rhymes were written... that adds a little edge...

ANO: Which do you enjoy more? Producing or rhyming?

DOOM: I'd have to say it's straight up the middle.. especially doing them both... Rhymin' on stage to my own beats.. it's like being at two places at once type shit...

ANO: What other genres of music do you enjoy besides hip-hop?

DOOM: Really... I listen to jazz more than anything... I really don't listen to hip-hop... I'm just now gettin' back into it... Coltrane and them are my ******....

ANO: How did you connect with Bobbito for the release of the "Doomsday" album?

DOOM: Yeah me and Bob been friends for 11 years type shit... I met Bob while he was at Def Jam... He knew I had mad demo shit, so he was like let's throw this shit out... He was anxious to put it out and the rest is history... After the three singles, I said let's do the album...

ANO: Do you and M.F. Grimm ever plan on collaborating on a full length project?

DOOM: Yeah.. it's talks of it... Know what i'm sayin.. give the people what they want... He got rhymes forever....

ANO: I heard a song you did produced by DJ Spinna entitled "Popcorn" on Rice University radio in Houston, TX. When did you and Spinna hook up to do that song and what project was it recorded for?

DOOM: DJ Who?... I did that beat... We did all that shit... That song was supposed to be for the "Black Bastards" album... I've never let anyone else produce a beat I've rhymed on.. except Prince Paul ("Gasface")

ANO: What was the story behind the KMD album cover that Elektra turned down?

DOOM: That's a funny thing.. a real funny thing... See, we've been usin' the same logo since '91... The black face with the "no sign".. meaning there is going to be the end of this stereotype... We always used it; but on the next album, we had him being hung... We felt being hung was being dissed.. so we twisted it around... To me the shit was ill, but the people that didn't like it must have some guilt... The Elektra cats used it as an excuse to not deal with us anymore... They still gonna make the money off the controversy, but it would've damaged something for them... The more we educate, the more they don't wanna **** with it....

ANO: How did Subroc's passing effect you as an artist and your outlook of life?

DOOM: Mad ways... That was my partner and my brother, God bless... We grew up together and got money together... He could master nicely... like on "Black Bastards," he used some intricate programs... I'm still trying to catch up... Because of that, I grew up a lot... Now I got more work to do 'cus it used to be 50/50... Now I gotta get more of my hands dirty... I'm still learning from the brother....

ANO: I see you're in ATL now. The lifestyle here in the red clay state of Georgia is a lot different from NYC. Do you think the change of lifestyle is going to influence your music?

DOOM: It'll influence only for the better... The stuff I was tryin' to achieve in NYC, I couldn't because of the lack of space and because NYC is so dense... In NYC, I couldn't turn my shit all the way up on blast... I'm more in tune with the planet and nature now... I don't hear car horns and shit.. it's nature... That's the thing with making beats... It's just not getting a sampler and makin' beats.. It's about timing and the sun, moon, and stars all deal with that... ****' can manipulate a beat greatly... That's where the skill part comes in....

ANO: Any final comments?

DOOM: Big up everyone keepin' shit alive.. makin' beats and shit... Brothas like you creatin' a forum for producers... That's peace...

yo what site is that from?
heres another doom one.
Is everything fine again after yesterday'hes electricity blackout?
Yeah man. But I'm not even out there. I'm in Atlanta. But I could imagine how crazy it is in New York right now.
Every Superhero or Villain has a background story. What made you become Doom?
What made me become Doom? You mean why? It started when I started experiencing a lot of these problems with these major labels and the industry. Also like other struggles that happened at the same time. Too many things were going wrong. So all the things that were not going his way, kind of turned him against this world. You know what I'm saying? Or against the establishment or whatever the mainstream is. So this turned him into Doom and made him say: Okay I'm going to find my own way, know what I mean?
Were you angry at the time?
I would say there was a little bit of anger, a little bit of frustration, mixed in with disappointment. A bunch of different feelings and emotions.



related links
· interview
· "Operation: Doomsday" review

So what did you do in between the years of "Black Bastards" and "Operation Doomsday"?
I've been working. Like working on rhymes. Rhyming is something that I never stopped doing, you always gotta do it, you know what I'm saying? I did a lot of travelling, back and forth, trying to make ends. Uhm, just trying to feed my family basically.
What about the new KMD album that's coming out?
Yeah, yeah that's actually what you just asked me about: the time in between "Black Bastards" and "Doomsday". The new album kind of chronicles what Doom made and where he is now.
There's rumors that Kurious Jorge is going to be in the new KMD?
Kurious has always been a member of KMD you know what I'm saying? But if he's going to be on this album, is still too early to tell. But it would be cool to get him on there if that's what people wanna hear.
Who else is going to be in it?
Hmm….. Well I got my man King Izz. He's a new guy. He plays a part of a MC that I knew from back then. He plays the part of an MC on his way up. Like I was on my way out of the industry, he plays a cat who's on the street rhyming trying to get into the game. So he's almost like my hmm… crew Co-Star. We play opposite roles. [Mr. Rictor elaborates on this: KMD is pickin' up from where it left off. The members are always members. King Izz came in contact with the movement so he's a part of it. But KMD is not a group per say. It's a movement.]
Is the new KMD also something like a dedication to Subroc, to keep his spirit alive?
No question. It's something that we started that goes on forever. He's not here physically, but of course his energy is still here and I still feel that energy. So I'm going to incorporate it where it can be incorporated, you know what I'm saying?
When you come up with a new concept do you have a character first or a song where you think this rather be a Doom song or a Viktor Vaughn song?
It starts in different ways. Sometimes it starts with a different character, sometimes I have an idea for a rhyme or a rhyme style. And it won't fit none of the characters that I already have, so I have to make up a character to constitute that style. I want to start with a concept for an album and I think it needs a character like this to carry the story line. Basically yeah, characters is where it really starts at. The characters always has something to do with the beginning of the story, but it might be the beat or the concept that triggers it, you know.
Considering MF Doom: does Marvel Comics know about your existence?
I don't know. I'm not sure. But there's a difference. I'm MF Doom so that has nothing to do with them, you know what I'm saying?
What's the difference between a Doom song a King Geedorah Song and a Viktor Vaughn song?
Aight, a Doom song is more traditional Hip Hop. I stick to the guidelines when I do it for Doom. Vic is more cutting edge, whatever the new stuff is or these new MCs are doing. But he still appreciates the old school art of rhyming. So there's still a level of sincerity to Viktors stuff, but it's still younger and newer, you know what I'm saying? And he rhymes over whatever beat, it don't matter. Then Geedorah, his angle is more of a God like figure. He speaks to the masses, more on like a speech way. It's not really opinionated. He's bringing you facts, you know what I'm saying? Scriptural in a sense like a prophet would.
Is it easier for you to rap over your own beats?
The problem is how fresh the beat is. Fresh meaning like the way it sounds and fresh meaning like how new it is to me. If I have a beat that I've been working on for too long it makes it hard to write to. But if I make it in one day and I have it and it's still fresh right there I can write quickly to it. But in the case if somebody else is producing, where I never heard it, I wasn't there to do the beat, I wasn't in the production stages of it and the beat is already done: usually when I hear a beat from somebody else I can rip it real easy. It's just a mind thing. It's like, if you are too caught up in a beat on the producer level, it gets hard sometimes to separate the MC from the producer. But it's a matter of freshness.
Regarding the mass of releases you've been putting out how do you secure a quality standard?
Really I just keep it up to par. I just stick to my formula. I don't cut corners, I won't compromise in music. It wouldn't help me anyway. Even if I tried, I couldn't do it. I just stick to that professional. I keep out of it until it's done.
What inspires you to all those different concepts that you come up with?
What inspires me? (pause) The need to pay these bills, that's what really inspires me (laughs). You know I don't know. I mean everything is interconnected from KMD to Geedorah. All of those interconnect. Once you have one idea to match this group it grows and grows. It's just a matter of being able to put it into words
Do you spend a lot of time watching movies to find all the film samples that you used for "Operation Doomsday" for example ?
Well for that particular project yeah. I did research. You know some of them I already knew from back when I was younger. But it didn't take too much, just regular how we used to play it all the time.
How do you manage to deal with so many different record labels and why do you work with so many?
Certain labels come to me and they want me to do something so I'll be like: Okay, I already have a idea or I make it up real quick and for whatever amount of money they got I'll break them off with a certain idea. And I'm dealing with the underground so there's not that much money for one label to take on all the projects. So I had to give them one at a time you know what I mean.
You have a new project coming up on Rhymesayers called "MM Food". What's behind that? What does MM stand for?
Aight, aight check it: out it's still Doom, you know what I mean? And "MM Food" that's just the title of the album. It's like 'mmmm Food' [imitates something that tastes good]. You know the whole album, every title of the album is a food reference. Every song is a food reference. A food reference for Hip Hop or a food reference to society of what goes on. That's the theme that strings the whole thing together: food. And it's like our food is nourishment you can't live without food. And this is nourishment on a Hip Hop level, you know what I'm saying? Like finally somebody brought the food after we've been starving for so long with the junk that's been out. That junk not even nourishment, you know what I'm saying?
What is the current situation with GM Grimm? Apparently you guys don't talk to each other anymore.
I just spoke to him the other day. I don't know where that rumor is coming from.
You spoke to him the other day?
Of course. That's my man.
So you guys plan to work together again?
Hopefully, you know what I'm saying? It's up to him.
What about the situation with the M.I.C.s?
What situation? What are you talking about?
There's people saying you don't talk to them anymore.
Oh yeah? But I don't talk to a lot of people. That has nothing to do with nothing. The album is dope, it's done actually. I can't talk to everybody in the world all the time. It's no drama or nothing, you know what I'm saying? The project I finished is done. So am I supposed to keep calling a hundred people a day? (laughs)
So it seems like people are blowing things out of proportion.
It's just like, you know, once people start knowing people's names they wanna make up stories and make it all juicy. That's all propaganda. I guess it's just gonna happen regardless. But all that shit is like false bullshit, you know what I'm saying? That shit's bugging me out every time somebody ask me about that.
Sorry about that. I was just wondering.
It's all good.
So will you ever perform live without your mask?
Nah. If I'd perform without the mask, it wouldn't be Doom, you know what I'm saying? Doom has to have the mask on. He always has the mask.
Do you have different masks for Doom, Viktor and King Geedorah?
Aight, Viktor has a different mask than Doom. But then Geedorah, Geedorah can't even be live. What it is: Doom speaks for Geedorah. Doom, like through telepathy, spits Geedorah's rhymes for him to get Geedorah's message across. So when you see Doom you see Geedorah you know what I'm saying.
To finish this thing off what are you working on currently?
Right know I'm finishing up the KMD album. Working on a couple of solo projects for my man Hassan Chop. He was on the Geedorah album. Working on a solo project for this girl Stahhr The F.E.M.C.E.E., she was also on the Geedorah Album. I'm doing another project with my man Lil' Sci from Scienz Of Life on the John Robinson project. That shit's gonna be crazy. And other than that, just instrumentals, selling beats, doing my production, you know what I mean.
Any info on the MadVillain project with Madlib?
Yeah, yeah. That shit is coming out ill. Some of it leaked online but I'm still doing new songs for that shit. When it come out it's still gonna be new.

Viktor Vaughn's album "Vaudeville Villian" will be out on Sound-

Dope articles on both counts...

Good lookin fam..

What inspires you to all those different concepts that you come up with?
What inspires me? (pause) The need to pay these bills, that's what really inspires me (laughs)

ha ha