Part of the legend and greatness of the late MF DOOM was that you never knew what he was going to do next. On the 2016 album Take Me to Your Leader, he took on another secret identity – King Geedorah, who himself was MF DOOM taken over by aliens bent on taking over the Earth. It’s a wild concept record filled with DOOM’s stunning rhymes and cool kaiju film samples helping tell / yell the story.
The first words on Take Me to Your Leader are “Follow the light, the light is your guide.” on “Fazer.” DOOM is fully possessed by the Planet X aliens and threatening to spit electricity (which is already does through his jaw-dropping rap skills) and to make “razors out of beer cans.” The loops and beats of “Fastlane” almost sound warped. The X-aliens brag about their control of DOOM and his friends on “Krazy World.”
“The Final Hour” takes a great sample from Hall & Oates‘ “I Can’t Go for That” and slows it down to the point where it’s almost unrecognizable. “Monster Zero” is another name for King Geedorah, and it’s also a great trip-hop tune with many great samples from Japanese monster films. “Next Levels” brings back hip hop rhymes atop an acid jazz beat.
“Geedorah has arrived, you guys can take five,” Geedorah / DOOM says on “No Snakes Alive.” DOOM’S pace moves back and forth from methodical to frenzied on the track. DOOM and Mr. Fantastic team up for a smooth track on “Anti-Matter.” Bonus points to you if you get the joke / reference in that partnership. The title track is a bit of a weird dream with plenty of samples of hysterical laughter and that Hall & Oates sample chopped up and restructured one more time.
“Lockjaw” goes back so fast that you barely have time to breathe, let alone catch all the tricky rhymes in it. “I Wonder,” with guest star Hassan Chop, has a cool, cinematic string section loop throughout it and takes on a philosophical tone as Chop wonders why he got dealt such a bad hand in life. The funky “One Smart Nigger” tackles how white culture loves to co-opt black culture and often not admit to doing it or, worse, claiming it was all their idea to start.
“Render unto Geedorah what is Geedorah’s,” DOOM says at the beginning of the last track, “The Fine Print.” That line takes on even more significance after hearing the track before it. The beats mix funky horns, video game sounds, beatboxing, and electro-drums to strut around like a three-headed dragon from outer space across the city of your choice.
The album ends with someone tells us the future of the planet is at stake, and DOOM is the one to deliver the message. He delivered many throughout his too-brief life. I haven’t mentioned a lot of the amazing wordplay on Take Me to Your Leader because, like any DOOM record, there’s so much that you don’t know where to start.
Keep your mind open.
[Take yourself to the subscription box.]
