JJ DOOM – Key to the Kuffs
morning folks! this week continues our discography review of MF DOOM, with his collaboration with Jneiro Jarel, Key to the Kuffs –
yknow it aint a DOOM related project without a sound bite opening – Waterlogged does some fun stuff to get the “JJ DOOM” sound out, haha. the transition into Guv’nor’s fun and i like some of the lines here but generally just feel kind if mediocre on the track. the beat on Banished is really fun, going all over the place, and i dig DOOM’s delivery on this one. pretty fun track. Bite the Thong features Damon Albarn, which is a fun little discog review crossover – this would’ve been after Plastic Beach and The Fall. p good track as well. i think im not huge on the back half of Cockney Rhymin’ Slang but i do like what it’s doing for most of the runtime. Dawg Friendly has Jneiro taking the leads on the vocals, and he drops some p good verses here, capping the track with a fun little outro. Borin Convo has a mellow energy to it, like trudging through rainy streets. Snatch That Dough is a short little bridge skit. GMO features Beth Gibbons of Portishead, and i’m kinda just aight on this one. has a similar vibe to Borin Convo, in terms of mood and delivery. content wise, some of this dips a lil too conspiratorial for me, which could be fun but is played pretty straight. Boston Fielder provides some vocals on Bout the Shoes – this track is weird in a really fun way, it’s loopy and strange. i could def see this one growing on me. Winter Blues is my fave track off the record for sure – very tender and romantic, DOOM-style. Still Kaps brings Khujo Goodie as WILLIE ISZ. it’s aight. Retarded Fren has some of my fave delivery/beat combos on the record, it’s just got a good energy to it. also something about the line “It’s just begun to began to begin to end” right near the end is VERY funny, and the gap between that line and the last line he delivers before the vocal sample is p funny too. Viberian Sun, Pt 2 is a beat-only track. extremely laid back, this one’s nice. i like it as a kind of pause right before the record closes. i REALLY like DOOM over the beats on Wash Your Hands. really cool track, really neat closer.
faves – Banished, Winter Blues, Wash Your Hands
dunno – this record had some good beats and some good bars, but something feels like it’s missing for sure. it’s definitely melancholic and encapsulates DOOM’s situation at the time – being kept out of the US due to Visa issues and struggling with that – but only a couple tracks really connect with me. maybe this is just me but i felt a lot of tracks lean heavy on vocal sample outros or like, long trailing beat outros. in places it works but sometimes it feels pretty disconnected from the song. on the whole, a pleasant listen but not a record that stood out a ton.
Key to the Kuffs – 6/10
next up, we’ll be looking at DOOM’s release with Bishop Nehru as NehruvianDoom, NehruvianDoom.
first: Operation: Doomsday | the previous: BORN LIKE THIS | next: NehruvianDoom
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