When it comes to music, food is rarely the topic of discussion. Aside from a few songs that feel like a joke on themselves, there are rarely songs that bridge the two disciplines, except for MF Doom.
Daniel Dumile was a British-American rapper who gained an underground following for his creative verses and his relative anonymity. Wearing a mask fashioned after Victor Von Doom in his public appearances, he created his public persona and stage name MF Doom.
MF Doom’s career was short, spanning from 1988-2020, ending with his untimely death. In that time he created and collaborated on an array of solo albums, features and instrumentals with the album “Madvilliany” being one of the most notable albums in his catalog. Though, the most distinctive album of his discography is a 2004 solo album “Mm..Food.”
Featuring fifteen songs that total just under 49 minutes, the album is a balance of clever word play and sampling that gives the album its charm. Here we have songs like “Beef Rap” and “One Beer.” Doom’s music is often a subversive litany of rhymes that often requires repeat listens to fully dissect the music.
In a video from Vox, rapper Open Mike Eagle explains why MF Doom is one of his favorite rappers, and that’s in part to his subversive nature. Pitchfork points out this subversion in “Great Day.” A line that ends in “stiches” provides a setup for the next line that feels second nature to hip hop, but Doom uses the word “booze,” to set up the next series of rhymes.
This can be seen in the “Mm..Food” track “Kon Karne” with the line “Always threw me off when she told me, “Daddy, funk me” / I’m like, “Anywho’s.” The use of anywho’s breaking the rhyme scheme and setting up “without any shoes” in the next bar.
Doom’s music is interested in clever word play, a construction of rhymes that works both in the chaining of words. When looking at the lyrics we see ways in which Doom uses an internal rhyme scheme and compound rhyme to construct holorimes. Holorimes are sentences that rhyme, without having the same words or meaning.
Take the following selection from “Beef Rap,” “Top bleeding, maybe fella took the loaded rod gears / Stop feeding babies colored sugar-coated lard squares.” When placed in comparison, the structure of the music takes on a mosaic layering, as each verse has an interweaving rhythm in its pronunciation.
To back his lyrics, MF Doom used several different samples to create a motif. Motifs are often short refrains that use a basic beat as a backdrop for the rest of the song, a popular example being this selection from Beethoven’s Symphony No 5.
One of the most popular tracks on the album is “Rap Snitches Knishes.” Featured in many memes, the opening samples David Matthews’ “Space Oddity” remake, slightly remixing the rock track. This leads to another distinctive quality of Doom’s music: his samples.
Doom’s samples range from classic Marvel cartoons featuring Victor von Doom, Electric Avenue and soul music, Doom’s music is a cultural hodge-podge. The creative uses of sampling define Doom’s tracks as a call and response while imbuing humor like the track “Deep Fried Frenz.”
The album is a testament to the talent of MF Doom as he interweaves imagery of food into each song. Playing to this single theme, Doom rethinks how food is infused into our art. The songs are not defined by the theme of food but become the framework for something distinguished in hip hop, a rhythmic ode to food.
Benjamin Ervin is a senior studying English literature and writing at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Benjamin know by emailing him be425014@ohio.edu.
