MF. Doom

First of all, it must be acknowledged that MF. Doom’s debut full-length deserves at least some consideration from each and every hip-hop head out there simply based off the fact that Doom was previously known as Zev Love X of classic hip-hop duo KMD. That said, Operation: Doomsday is only a good album, not the classic masterpiece that it should have been. Betraying his roots, Doom produces these lo-fi, mid-school beats with Dr. Octagon-inspired twists. Unfortunately, the sometimes cheesiness of the beats ruin the songs for me, even though I can appreciate Doom’s creativity. A perfect example is "The Mic,” where Doom appropriates Eric B. & Rakim’s "Microphone Fiend” for the beat and chorus sample. On its own, or with Doom’s lyrics over the top, it would sound cool, but Doom delves into the realm of cheese by adding a piano loop and occasional singing. On "Tick, Tick,” the MCs ride the every-changing drum beat with often great results, while the horror keyboards, Scooby Doo sample and "hey!” shout on "Hey!” form the best beat on the whole album. The lyrics from most of this crew sound like some quality, b-boying loving, Godzilla-influenced Wu-Tang lyrics from when they were young, hungry and coming with 36 Chambers. And finally, the Dr. Doom interludes, although boring after repeated listens, pull the numerous singles into a full album. Operation: Doomsday is certainly worth the few bucks.