CLASSICS: Viktor Vaughn-Vaudeville Villain: ALBUM REVIEW

   Apparently, God was fed up with hip-hop in 2003 and divinely inspired Daniel Dumile-then known as MF DOOM-to team up with a team of talented producers and create one of the most exciting, hard-hitting, and thoroughly satisfying underground hip-hop albums of all time: Vaudeville Villain.

   And the sad thing is, this album may never be deservingly recognized as an all time hip-hop classic. This album is mostly overshadowed by Doom's most celebrated release, Madvillainy, which came out the following year and hogged the spotlight, leaving Villain mostly forgotten, and now out of print. This is a shame, because this is the album where (in my opinion) Doom's potential was fully realized. His low, monotonous and gritty flow was perfected here. His flow is not too tight or too loose, it's somewhere in the middle, which separates Doom from all the exceptionally tight and technical rappers out there while simultaneously keeping him very far away from mediocre rappers who have loose (okay, sloppy) flows lacking in technique. His symmetrical delivery is instantly recognizable, and anyone who bites it ("shark niggas" according to Wu Tang's Raekwon) could and should be called out for it. 

   Doom also comes into full bloom as a lyricist, delivering esoteric oddball lyrics in multiple-syllable rhyme schemes that, thankfully, don't wallow in tired and cliche hip-hop subjects like bitches, bling, and weed. He has been called one of hip-hop's "most treasured lyricists" and Doom lives up to that praise on this album which is full of lyrical goodness. As potent as Doom is, the star of the show is the instrumentals, concocted by producers like Max Bill and King Honey, which are absolutely lethal. Trust me when I say these beats are some of the most creative, exciting, powerful, complex, and downright masterful ever heard in the history of hip-hop. If you're a metalhead like me, you will have much to appreciate in these dark, multi-layered beats, and if you listen to this album with good headphones, you'll notice all the little nuances and be in disbelief as to how these guys packed so much substance into these songs. There are two "open mic night" tracks where guest rappers (including Rodan and Louis Logic) spit 45 second verses, and even those short instrumentals are mini-masterpieces. 

   As outstanding as the production is, it still doesn't overshadow Doom as the head of the project (at least, not completely). His personality brightly shines through, which is impressive given how dominant the beats tend to be, and if you have heard the aforementioned Madvillainy which has production that's worlds apart from Villain, it's still the same old Doom doing his thing and doing a damn fine job at it. This album is a triumph of true hip-hop and deserves the highest praise for it's creativity as well as it's brute force. I'll give this album a super duper He-Man strong robot unicorn awesome 10 out of 10 without hesitation. Pick this beast up, it is truly hip-hop gold and it may work it's way up to the top of you're hip-hop collection. 

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