MF DOOM

其实，中国的乐迷可能比美国人还熟悉MF DOOM和他的《Operation Doomsday》，这跟国内的一股追求稀有的思潮是分不开的，《Operation Doomsday》被中国乐迷知晓应该是在2004年之后，当时美元还算硬挺，一块能换八块人民币，Ebay和Amazon上80多$的天价自然也吓到了第一批Ebay中国CD藏家，随之这种由好奇和敬畏感共同驱动的热潮便一发不可收拾——在今天，你会很容易碰到没听过3rd Bass却对MF DOOM推崇备至的青少年。
 
这一段就讲述这个大家都耳熟能详的故事，自从1989年从3rd Bass的《The Cactus Album》出道后，伦敦出生的Zev Love X跟着其兄弟Subroc一起以K.M.D.的名义在华纳完成了两张专辑，1991年的《Mr.Hood》和1994年的《Black Bastards》，其中后者因为封面争议太大没能发表，Subroc不久以后不幸遭遇车祸去世，Zev Love X自身也陷入了潦倒，遭受了多重不幸的他离开纽约移居南方亚特兰大，直到1998年才戴上面具化名漫画英雄MF DOOM回到圈内，这张《Operation Doomsday》就是MF DOOM的处子作。
 
前面说到这张专辑的唱片公司宣传很差，事实上这张专辑几乎没有宣传，因为出版专辑的Subverse Records根本在专辑发行后不久就倒闭了，这家公司为DOOM所做唯一做的好事就是把1994年没能发表的《Black Bastards》给发了。
 
当然，这张专辑日后能够红火绝不仅仅是靠DOOM那副面具，在专辑中还是有很多值得一提的地方，比如说采样，在1999年，采样已经不能和1989年同日而语了，在这时候谁还采James Brown就会被看做过时，而且日益严格的法律也不容许肆意采样，否则就等着吃官司吧，而采用更模糊（说白了就是更难让那些想通过打官司赚养老费的前辈艺术家们抓到证据）的采样方式也因为大气候下群众欣赏水平的转变，伴随着硬核说唱这一名词被扔进了故纸堆，于是很多制作人就采取了自己编曲的方式，比较明显的就是Bad Boy公司的那帮Hitmen，不过这样也有一个问题那就是Rap和R&B之间的界限越来越淡。而我们的MF DOOM大大与众不同之处就此凸显，他采样的是动画片。
 
作为全球娱乐产业的霸主，美国的动漫产业因为价值观的分歧等诸多原因一直不为我们所深切关注，事实上笔者自己也不甚了解。但《蜘蛛侠》、《蝙蝠侠》、《超人》等等个人英雄主义价值观主导的动漫名作在中国青少年中还是耳熟能详的，DOOM采样的来源主要集中在另一部闻名遐迩的动漫《Fantastic Four》，中文叫《神奇四侠》，此F4的世界声望明显超过前些年的台湾F4和后来衍生的波霸女F4们，他们是四个经过核辐射后拥有超能力的奇人，虽然剧情比较低幼，但美国的青少年们一直乐此不疲，其中也包括DOOM这么一个粉丝。
 
在《Operation Doomsday》中，使用了大量来自《神奇四侠》的对白和配乐，MF DOOM还给自己创造了一个邪恶的aka叫Super Villain，即超级恶棍，但由于MF DOOM的歌词压根是抽象到看不懂的，这些邪恶主要体现在制作上，就算是优美如“Rhymes Like Dimes”，也让人感到清爽下面藏着一股充满神经质的压抑，“Doomsday”也是如此，和Kurious合作的“？”在第三段beat突变，只能用惊艳来形容。当然，专辑中最抢眼的一曲还是DOOM和其导师MF Grimm合作的“Tick,Tick…”，听到这首歌你能感觉到一股下水道里的腐臭味道，闪烁的鼓点和节奏配以MF Grimm和MF DOOM两人连绵不断的flow，在2000年Wu-Tang Clan的专辑《The W》中有首极其类似的“Careful（Click Click）”，算起来，同样师出Prince Paul的两人里，MF DOOM还是The RZA的师兄。
 
Patterning his persona and logo after the Marvel Comics supervillain Dr. Doom, the man behind MF (Metal Face) Dooms iron mask is actually Daniel Dumile, aka Zev Love X, a member of former Big Apple hip-hoppers KMD. First featured on the 3rd Bass single The Gas Face, the London-born, Long Island-raised Zev made his debut with KMD a couple of years later, along with his younger brother and musical partner DJ Subroc. The 1991 album Mr. Hood, released on Elektra Records, was part of a short-lived trend of Islamic Five Percent Nation hip-hop outings, along with efforts by groups like Poor Righteous Teachers and KMDs labelmates Brand Nubian. However, Subroc was fatally injured in 1993 when he was struck by a car, and when Zev and KMD returned the next year, it was with the even more serious and miltant Bl_ck B_st_rds, an album whose cover art alone (featuring a Little Black Sambo-ish cartoon character being hanged) spelled the end of the groups contract with Elektra. With the album in limbo, Zev went underground for five years, recovering from his wounds and swearing revenge against the industry that so badly deformed him, according to his official bio, a reworking of Dr. Dooms origin. Meanwhile, Bl_ck B_st_rds was heavily bootlegged and Zev Loves legend grew, but few knew at first that the rapper who began showing up at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1998, freestyling with a stocking covering his face, was actually Zev. The imaginative MC finally ended the mystery in 1999, resurfacing in his new identity as MF Doom and making up for lost time with a critically praised new album, Operation: Doomsday, on indie label Fondle Em Records. The following year saw the long-awaited official release of Bl_ck B_st_rds (complete with Sambo-style cover art), as well as several singles and an EP with fellow rhymer MF Grimm. In 2001, SubVerse re-released Operation: Doomsday and Bl_ck B_st_rds. A wealth of bootlegs, compilation appearances, mixtapes, and instrumental albums (the beloved by DJs Special Herbs series) surfaced over the years but no follow-up full-length until Doom introduced his alter ego, Viktor Vaughan, in 2003 with Vaudeville Villain. His team-up with the multi-talented Madlib became Madvillain and their April 2004 release, Madvillainy drew rave reviews. Four months later Venomous Villain marked the return of Viktor Vaughan with the second MF Doom album, MM… Food?, appearing in November the same year. The formerly promo-only Live From Planet X got its aboveground release in March of 2005 with Special Herbs, Vol. 9-10 following in July.