MF Doom: Operation: Doomsday (2LP) [RHYMESAYERS]

Why you'll love it

Operation: Doomsday is regarded as one of the most influential albums in independent hip-hop history, the record that introduced the metal-faced villain to the world. "Rhymes Like Dimes" and "Doomsday" are here, over beats Doom built from cartoon and Muzak samples.

This edition

• 2LP set, 19 tracks over four sides
• Side Zero through Side Three, as Doom sequenced it

About the album

Daniel Dumile (better known as his masked alter ego MF Doom) was ready to chuck his hip-hop career for good after his short-lived rap group KMD was rocked by the sudden death of his brother and musical partner DJ Subroc and the band's subsequent dumping after one album by Elektra Records.

After several years spent finding his feet again, he re-emerged in 1997 as the metal-faced MC/producer MF Doom and followed through magnificently with a cheap-as-crud album of abstract hip-hop bangers called Operation: Doomsday. A lot of the content is wracked with loss, but Doom camouflages it rather well with a lot of bent, head-spinning wordplay and an all-in production palette dotted with Muzak and cartoon-soundtrack samples. It was rightly adopted by the underground hip-hop community as a signpost towards the future and casts a long shadow of influence to this day.

Also at Kops: more MF Doom on vinyl · browse Hip Hop / R&B

Tracklist

Listen

On Rhymesayers (cat# RSE352), a reissue of the 1999 album.