"Peachfuzz": KMD
Production: DJ Subroc
Album: Mr. Hood
Every superhero has their own dark history, and MF DOOM's origin story is blacker than most. Before his breakout Operation: Doomsday, DOOM had already launched a successful career as a founding member of Long Beach rap trio KMD. Their first album, Mr. Hood, that featured the acclaimed single "Peachfuzz", was to be followed by a second project, Black Bastards. But it never came. DOOM's younger brother, and KMD's in-house producer, was killed crossing a state highway, and the group were dropped by their label, Elektra Records, before their upcoming project was released. DOOM went into exile, and the Villain was born.
"Peachfuzz" sees a lighter side of DOOM.
Read the lyrics on a sheet, and it's hard to know where cadences begin and end, as DOOM, or as he was known at this time, Zev Love X, idly manipulates syllables into the structures he wants to create, his lackadaisical flow possessing a sense of arrogance and indifference. There's no gritty monotone that characterized his 2000s style - he actually rhymes with natural inflection, as he wittily laments how his outward appearance belies his inner maturity, by rapping with an intelligence that betrays his youth.
Mr. Hood is certainly worth a listen. After all, it's DOOM - but without the gloom.
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