Operation: Doomsday

Spin (p.76) - "[A] thoroughly original debut...[with] witty rhymes over tracks collaged from R&B and cartoon samples." Spin (p.51) - Ranked #8 in Spin's 'The Top 10 Reissues Of 2011' -- "[H]ere, he's all dense flow and revelatory mischief." Spin (8/00, pp.152-4) - 8 out of 10 - "...A rambling exercise in musical therapy....the production is all mid-'80s quiet storm balladry....Doom effectively rhyming over the original musical backdrops....fulfilling KMD's mythology..." Alternative Press (5/01, pp.86-7) - 3 out of 5 - "...Places an insightful spin on Doom's history on the rap game....the mish-mashed musical styles that MF incorporates lend a bit of variety, and the generally lo-fi production values give the album character..." CMJ (4/30/01, p.20) - "...Never has there been a more satisfying demo-quality recording....refreshingly amatuerish and experimental....masterful..." NME (Magazine) (6/30/01, p.41) - 6 out of 10 - "...Relaxed bass strolls and a voice that doen;t hide its sadness occupy the mix....Watch out for the spacey mix and cryptic vocal samples as well..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.101) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]his outside attack launched the bomb, and made MF Doom the leftfield hero that he remains today."

Simultaneously hailed as an underground classic and cast aside as poorly produced backpack rap, Operation: Doomsday inaugurated the reign of MF Doom in underground rap from the early to mid-2000s. The pretext for the album is very similar to that of Marvel Comics supervillain Dr. Doom; after MF Doom, then known as Zevlove X, had been devastated by the death of his brother and K.M.D. accomplice, DJ Sub-Roc, in the early '90s, Elektra dropped his group and stopped the release of its second album, Black Bastards, due to its political message and, more specifically, its cover art. Doom was left scarred with a lingering pain that didn't manifest until the late '90s as hip-hop's only masked supervillain on Bobbito Garcia's Fondle 'Em Records. Carrying the weight of the past on his shoulders, Doom opens and closes Operation: Doomsday with frank and sincere lyrics. In between, however, many of the villain's rhymes are rather hard and piercing. On his subsequent material, he developed a more steady and refined delivery, but on this debut, Doom was at his rawest and, lyrically, most dexterous. The out-of-left-field edge of Doom's production -- which features '80s soul and smooth jazz mixed with classic drum breaks -- is indeed abstract at times, but his off-kilter rhymes are palatable and absent any pretentiousness. In fact, the album arguably contains some of the freshest rhymes one might have heard around the time of its release. There are more than enough obscure but fun references (i.e. "quick to whip up a script like Rod Serling" on "Go with the Flow" or "MCs, ya style needs Velamints" on "Dead Bent") and quotable jewels from the "on-the-mike Rain Man" to feed on. Nevertheless, one would be hard-pressed to overlook the low-budget mixing that mars some of the LP's presentation. For the hardcore Doom fans, the recorded-in-the-basement quality is appealing and representative of his persona as the underdog who "came to destroy rap." In contrast, given his contributions to hip-hop during the 2000s, the masked villain offers this explanation on "Doomsday": "Definition: supervillain/A killer who loves children/One who is well-skilled in destruction as well as buildin'." Even though this album is certainly not for everyone, you can easily respect from where the man is coming. ~ Cyril Cordor