Going by the names Masked Villain, MF DOOM, Madvillian, King Geedorah, Metal fingers, and Dumile all at the same time, Daniel Dumile was a rap genius who quickly shot into fame in the underground hip hop scene in the early 2000s. Under many names he created a persona and a story behind his music. Although he passed away in October 2020 he has lived on through the hearts of his dedicated fans and for good reason. Doom kept his personal life close to his chest and was a master of wordplay and poetical lyricism.
Every album maintains the same level of quality and lyricism that people came to expect from MF DOOM. In 2004 he released his most iconic album “Madvilliany.” On release the album gained popularity with a metacritic score of 93/100 and at the time was the second most acclaimed album of 2004 behind Outkast’s “Stankonia.” “Madvilliany” was a duo project with record producer “Madlib” and together they created what many considered to be a perfect album. Iconic songs from the album include All Caps and Meat Grinder.
MF DOOM in many of his albums creates an entire world through his music and lyrics, but unlike albums like “MM… FOOD” (Fun fact the album MM… FOOD is just his name rearranged) and “Take Me To Your Leader” this album didn’t follow a story but more of a theme. Often through his music he creates personas and it makes him and his music iconic. But to me this project was DOOM’s way of showing off his ability and lyricism and he succeeded.
The song “All Caps” would be the most popular song from this album. The song title references how he prefers his stage name to be spelled with “All Caps.” The song opens up with a short flute melody and transitions into the piano and flute melody with a catchy beat that carries the song. His lyricism flows with this flute melody creating a perfect mix of elements. The opening lyric “So nasty that it’s probably somewhat of a travesty having me Daily told the people “You can call me Your Majesty!”” is the perfect opening lyric to this song basically saying that his lyrics are so nasty it’s a travesty. He rhymes travesty and majesty stating that his lyricism is worth being called majesty.
His lyricism comes to be artistic, his words were from the heart, he states “Our sh*t don’t be scripted like that. Whatever comes to mind, do that sh*t, record that sh*t. You know what you’re saying, you know how you feel. Rock that sh*t.” The album has many different songs that different people will enjoy for different reasons but all come together to have a cohesive villainous theme that fit incredibly well into his discography. While Madvilliany is his most critically acclaimed album and iconic album he has a plethora of other songs and albums for listeners to enjoy. I along with many DOOM listeners will implore to listen to this album and his other music. Just remember ALL CAPS when you spell the man’s name, DOOM.
