Danger Doom - Crosshairs (Reaction) 

How were you into Aesop Rock and not know who Doom was? That’s literally impossible, unless you just don’t listen to hip hop and just randomly knew about Aesop? Doom was part of the same independent rap movement that was spearheaded by El-P and Company Flow, Rawkus, etc. Doomsday came out just a year or two later on Fondle ‘Em (the singles were around the same time as Funcrusher Plus) Bobbito Garcia’s label. Doom was the king of the underground lyricists from the late 90’s until the mid-2000’s, right when El-P was doing Def Jux and putting Aesop out. Not sure what my point is … I guess it’s that … us MF Doom fans (notice the original spelling; I’m an OG fan, not an internet kid who learned about Doom a few years ago and decided it was ok to like Doom’s music because someone explained it to me, and I all of sudden realized it was hip or cool … demanding “all caps” over and over?) didn’t lament his death or think of it as a tragic loss. And the reason for that is, we came to terms with that damn near 15 years ago. The moment he got deported in the mid to late 2000’s, his music was never the same. He, in a sense, had already died creatively. So much of his essence and creative fuel had to do with being in New York and part of the hip hop scene, or just being around his friends and collaborators. That is exactly what he has referenced many times over the years, and what people close to him have said. He had basically lost the love. All of the subsequent music (post/deportation) that came out that was at his standards of greatness-all the Stones Throw singles, the Adult Swim stuff, the loosie singles with Madlib and Dilla and DangerMouse, the Born Like This Dilla joints, the posthumous Dilla album features, the various remixes and gems that surface, even the Gorillaz features and things like that … all that music was recorded in that late 2000’s to 2010ish period. Everything recorded after that (the Czarface stuff, for example) just wasn’t up to par. The NehruvianDOOM album had moments, and also JJ DOOM, but it wasn’t the same level as all his other earlier work. And, really, there was a good 5-6 year gap between any new work from him to leading to his death anyway. He just wasn’t active or interested in making music, for the most part, and he said as much multiple times. So all the real fans had already dealt with his absence from music for a decade or so when he died. It was shocking, but it was also seemed fitting, in some ways, for him to mysteriously vanish into the night without a trace. Ive never stopped playing his music since 1997 (yeah, I knew the 3rd Base stuff and the KMD joint, but I would be lying if I said I had the album and was a fanatic at that point), and I hope his family is set … but I didn’t see his death as a tragedy, and I think most real fans feel the same way. Only the fair-weather, new comer fans who came into the picture when people explained, “check this guy out; this is why he is cool and important. Also, he’s dead now, so that up’s the stakes and makes things more poignant!” … that think his death is a tragedy … and think this somehow prevented all this great music that would have been coming because they are discovering his classic discography spanning 20 years in a short time period. His career had basically come and gone, no different than other greats like Slick Rick, LL Cool J, KRS ONE, Public Enemy, or take your pick? Just be thankful for the art he made and celebrate how great and unique it was. But his artistic death basically occurred a 12 or so years earlier … the moment he got deported and couldn’t live in America. RIP The Super Villain.

@@79GlitchOk

Music by Erik Sermon. He used the Marvin Gaye sample in the song.

@@FindingLostVerses thanks!