DOOM - Born Like This

Rating: 7.7
Released: March 24, 2009
Label: Lex



MF DOOM (or just DOOM, now, apparently) has consistently proven himself to be one of the most exciting underground rappers around, most notably on his Madlib collaboration Madvillainy. As such, news of any new album from DOOM is an event (especially when it turns out that the album actually will be released, which is often not the case, unfortunately). Born Like This, luckily for us, in fact does exist, and is another worthwhile entry in the DOOM catalogue.

The album gets off to a bit of a shaky start, with a rather pedestrian intro that transitions abruptly in “Gazzillion Ear.” As the song progresses, however, DOOM’s trademark flow settles comfortably on top of the eerie beat. It sounds exactly like what you would expect from DOOM, but he’s so good at what he does that it’s still worth hearing. As for his rapping, it’s as goofily bizarre as always. Lines like “later for the date than the Hadron Collider” (in the midst of self-promotion, no less) give the song some refreshing self-deprecating humor.

Born Like This is rife with highlights, such as “Yessir!,” which features a fabulous performance by Raekwon that gives me hope for his upcoming sequel to Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. The beat is insistent and dissonant, perfectly augmenting the rapping. Elsewhere, on “That’s That,” DOOM gives us one of the very best songs of his storied career, and, on “Angelz,” crying strings and emotive horns set the stage for a great guest appearance by Tony Starks (Ghostface Killah).

Unfortunately, for all the great music on Born Like This, at seventeen tracks, it can’t avoid some filler sneaking its way in. The worst offender is the pointless spoken word track, “Bumpy’s Message” (which isn’t a “song” at all). “Lightworks” is also a miss, as it tries to do too much and simply feels cluttered as a result. The ideas for a great song are there, but the sirens used in the beat give the song no room to breathe. The transitions between the songs, as well as almost all of the spoken samples, are annoying as well. The samples that reference villains and their plans are a DOOM trademark, but all they do here is distract from the actual music.

Despite these flaws, Born Like This stands up as a solid album. The songs are fairly diverse, and the rapping is great throughout, even when the beats fail (which itself only happens on occasion). It’s not revolutionary, and it’s not a landmark, but it is yet another solid album from DOOM. If he can put together another album on the level of the best work here, he’ll easily produce another classic. For now, this album is definitely worthwhile.


-Pnoom