DOOM

The metal-faced rap hermit has finally emerged with some new/old material after a few years of head scratching "live appearances," featuring mask-wearing impostors, and time spent honing his production skills, providing wacko beats for new BFF Ghostface. On his latest offering, Doom (he's officially dropped the MF) cooks up a fresh slab of weirdo rap that even has Radiohead's Thom Yorke jumping on his jock. While Doom handles the bulk of production, tracks like "Gazillion Ear" see Doom at his best, spitting multi-syllables over a mesmerizing J Dilla soundscape that changes direction three times. "Ballskin," produced by Jake One, is a tease at just 1:31, but Doom uses his time efficiently over the beat, which is reminiscent of his collaboration with De La Soul on "Rock Cocaine Flow." Other "how good is this!?" tracks are "Yessir," featuring some vicious couplets from Raekwon, and the melancholy "That's That," which has Doom trying out his strained singing voice. If there are any bones to pick, it's the fact that Ghostface duet "Angelz" has been around for a few years, and we've all heard Dilla's "Lightworks" a thousand times (however there's nothing wrong with that!) With Born Like This, Doom has birthed an album that begs for repeated listens and firmly repositions him atop the underground rap heap.