Excerpt from the DOOM interview by David Kane in Bonafide #6
“Hmmm, I’m not sure about that shit.” Cue slightly uncomfortable silence. This wasn’t the start I was hoping for as one of rap and indeed modern music’s most intriguing voices gives my opening gambit short shrift (for the record, I asked him about the reported beef between his old friend and collaborator MC Serch and the Beastie Boys).
I interviewed DOOM as a precursor to his first UK tour late last year, including the much-anticipated London date with Ghostface Killah, as well as the not so small detail of the DOOMSTARKS collaborative album, Swift & Changeable. A release that still seems no closer to a reality several months on and is perhaps better left in a fragmented cyberspace of memory, mystery and the imagination of rap raconteurs.
The only real nugget of insight so far has been the DOOM produced Victory Laps single (although the superior Madvillainz remix saw the first public airing) – steeped in DOOM’s signature lo-fi keyboard loop and dusty drum sound, both he and Ghost spit fire but it feels a little like a warm up, an apéritif – what of the main course? DOOM, evasive for perhaps the only time we speak, hints at the reason: “That’s my brother from another mother. Well, Victory Laps is out, it’s taken a while but it’s coming out. He’s [Ghostface] not easy but he makes it fun, trust me, there’s going to be a lot of story-type shit.”
Despite almost twenty years of recorded output, DOOM’s music seems to inspire and influence more artists in hip-hop and beyond now than it ever has. Why is this? Perhaps the answer is in the question, DOOM, or Daniel Dumile as is written on his British passport, is a man of some experience and over the past decade has gone about cultivating a musical alter-ego like no other. This isn’t in a controlling ‘I’ve spent a million dollars on this video’ but rather from making mainly only the right decisions. From his collaborative efforts, which are often as surprising as they are interesting, to knowing when to introduce a new rap guise (possibly only Kool Keith can claim to have more aliases) and holding back enough to perpetuate the enigma, DOOM is not on Twitter states the verified account for those who bother looking…
ON TOUR
MAY 25: PARIS FRANCE DOOM & FLYING LOTUS AT VILLETTE SONIQUE
JUNE 1: ADELAIDE, DOOM & GHOSTFACE AT HQ
JUNE 2: SYDNEY DOOM & GHOSTFACE AT ENMORE
JUNE 3: PERTH, DOOM & GHOSTFACE AT METROPOLIS
JUNE 8: BRISBANE, DOOM & GHOSTFACE AT ARENA
JUNE 9: MELBOURNE DOOM & GHOSTFACE AT FORUM
