MF DOOM THE BLACKBOOK MAGAZINE INTERVIEW 5-5-03
New on shelves "BLACK BOOK MAGAZINE" #29, Protest Issue. I love this magazine because it's totally up on the art scene, and the NY cool. Check it on pg. 40 they printed a photo and a mini bio of myself on one of the contributor pages, and on page 198 - 199 I got a full 2 page spread comic strip format of an interview I did with M. F. DOOM. I did it in an old fashioned comic book style (so it looks like it's printed on pulp paper, etc.) MF is a really cool guy, and is about as real as you can get in hip-hop in that he wears a metal mask when performing so people don't idolize him for his looks (or know what he looks like). He doesn't sport bling or ghetto fabulous type gear, it's all about the music with him. Really a nice guy, and it shows in the interview. The other cool thing about the interview, is that, since I was interviewing him, I got to draw myself into almost every panel!!!!
If you haven't seen BLACK BOOK magazine, this is most def an issue you should pick up. Lots of good contributors, Russell Simmons, Pink, George Plimpton, Yoko Ono, Kinsey , etc..writing for this book is really prestigious, so I'm proud to have written and drawn my article and have my big fat face amongst the contributors. ALSO, I GOT TO SLIP A BUNCH OF MY FRIENDS INTO A PANEL. Look closely, there is a panel where DOOM is performing on stage and I had to draw the audience. A few fans from the update list sent me photos and I put them in the crowd. I also slipped a lot of family members, friends and colleagues in there. Check it out, you might be in there. For certain you will find: Julia, Juno, R. Evan, Oren, Eric, Brooklyn Dave, Ricardo, Brett, Chesbo, Eli, Jen, Savark, Ink, Nick Zane, Hanson, and many others.
Here is the full interview, as it went down and was laid out- before it got edited for print. It was fun, he's really a laid back guy. I kept cracking him up with my questions. Good times...
Original MF DOOM Interview- Unedited
BACKGROUND WISE:
A CASTLE- Kids around, plants, like suburban feel, castle in the middle of suburbia.
INTERVIEW WITH M.F. DOOM
(VISUAL)
Cojo looking up at Castle,
COJO: "Well, this is the right address..."
(INTERIOR- Interview)
COJO: "Hi MF Do you mind if I call you MF?"
MF DOOM: "Naw, I don't mind. Most of my friends call me DOOM."
COJO: "MF, You claim to be rap's 'SUPER VILLAIN,' how evil are you? Should I be wearing a Kevlar hoodie?"
MF DOOM: "I'm no more evil then the next guy. Villain really describes the style, meaning it's the opposite of whatever the other guy's doing. One guy's hero is the next guy's villain. He's only a villain from that one point of view so he's not necessarily evil. Just as much as the next guy ain't evil, you know what I'm sayin',but he might be considered the villain to me. So villain is really the style, the style of being like I'm the underdog. I'm the one who everybody thinks is going to loose. Villain in that aspect, not necessarily saying that one side is right or wrong."
COJO: "I see." (looking around, confused)
COJO: "I guess Doom is one bad MF. Is there a Doom army?"
MF DOOM: "Heh, heh...Heh heh... that information is confidential."
COJO: "Back in the day before he went 'Hollywood,' Hulk Hogan had to make yearly payments to Marvel Comics. Have the X-Men been knocking on your door for copyright money?"
MF DOOM: "Ha Hah, Not yet, maybe not till this article comes out. Heh, You know what I mean. I think everything I do is in good taste and it's only a result of the influence all those comics had on me for all those years so it's really like a part of me now. It's only going to come back around, you know what I'm sayin'?"
COJO: "Were you a "Marvel fanboy" as a kid?"
MF DOOM: "Oh yeah totally, I grew up on Marvel and DC Comics."
COJO: "Getting away from superheros let's talk about today's heroes of rap. What do you think about "ghetto fabulous" rappers all flaunting their bling? Do you think rap is becoming more about image then words?"
MF DOOM: "Yeah, most definitely. It seems like the rap game is like everybody's chasing the next guy trying to get the bigger chain, or tattoos and the no shirt thing. Next thing you know motherfuckas will be ass naked up there rhymin,' you know! Where does it end? I'm like, it starts with the microphone, that's where the lyrics is at. All the rest of that shit don't really matter. All the glitz and the glamour, some people like it, it's entertaining. But when it comes to MC ing, that's the way we separate the men from the boys."
COJO: "Is this why you wear the Mask? Taking the bling out of hip-hop so people can focus more on the lyrics then getting high on the lifestyle?"
MF DOOM: "Yup Yup, it's like anybody can relate. I could be anybody. Any fan can be DOOM. It's not like I'm above. A lot of time, these rap cats are like trying to be above, kind of like people have to worship them and shit, it's weird."
COJO: "Who designed your mask by the way? I think 50 cent is looking for some facial protection."
MF DOOM: "Hah! The mask was designed by a friend of mine, Lord Scotch79. He's a graff artist. He came up with the design for the mask. There are two versions, he did both. #1 and #2, I recently made a slight update to the second version, but it's still his design."
COJO: "Back in the day when you went by Zev Luv X, and were in the legendary group KMD, your cover art of Sambo getting Lynched for the "Black Bastards" album was really controversial, and caused Electra to not release it, do you ever plan on using the Sambo imagery again?"
MF DOOM: "Well aight, at the time it happened to fit the concept, and it still fits parts of the concept, it's part of it now. When I do come back with the next phase of KMD, somehow it will definitely have that incorporated. As far as Electra goes, I really can't speak for them. It's mad politics in the business, that probably had something to do with that whole thing, you know what I'm sayin'?"
COJO: "So you're going to do another KMD record one day?"
MF DOOM: "Oh, yeah definitely. I'm working on it right now as a matter of fact. It's still in it's early state and I don't want to spoil it."
COJO: "I understand, let's switch gears, what are your views on all the beefs right now in hip-hop, like the one between 50 Cent, Eminem, Busta, and Ja Rule?"
MF DOOM: "Damn Yo, I must be just outta the loop. I don't get out, I don't know nothing about none of that shit. I don't listen to none of that shit. I be working, so I'm listening to my shit. But when I listen to music in my spare time it definitely don't be none of that rap bullshit. There ain't nothin' there, so say I really need to listen to hip-hop, Criminal minds or something like that, throw in some NAS or some shit. I'd rather listen to some slow jazz type shit, some slow Miles or some shit. That new shit is trash."
COJO: "You're sound has been called 'bohemian,' 'underground,' and 'abstract,' how do you classify your vibe?"
MF DOOM: "Awwe man, aiight I'll say this; I don't really put a classification on it. The shit to me is just straight up hip-hop. If you ask me my shit hard-core, just look at the lyrics. But I'd guess it'd be the tones and the different frequency of the music that might remind somebody of an era, and so they make a comparison to whatever that style was classified as. My shit is straight hip-hop. The beats is raw, and the rhymes is raw. And everything is just truth, straight from the heart. A lot of people like to try to classify it, I don't do that shit, ya know?"
COJO: "You've teamed up with MC Search and 3rd Bass in the past, any chance of working with hip-hop's original white boys again?"
MF DOOM: "Hah, ha! I guess that depends on the paper, you know what I mean. It was cool, it was good, they started the whole career off you know what I'm sayin.' In the beginning stages of the professional side of things, rolling with them dudes you learn a lot, you know what I'm sayin. Going on the road with them, got to go on the road with Kain. I got the chance to go on the road with a lot of people through of them being on. Got to meet a lot of hip-hop cats from back in the day, that now are legends. Makes me glad I was able to experience that."
COJO: "They kind of opened doors for white rappers everywhere. What do you think of rappers like Eminem and Bubba Sparks breaking into the hip-hop mainstream?"
MF DOOM: "Bubba Sparks, Oh that dude! Yo, I learned this from my son. It's so ill when you got children yo. The whole color thing, I don't even look at that shit no more. At one time I might have seen it like that, you know "Oh, white rapper?" There's no such thing, MC's are MC's, you don't know what color you're going to be born, but if you gotta rhyme, you're rhymin'. So I'm like yo, it's music. It's the universal language. So I'm ready to see all races, all races of MC's come out, you know what I mean? It's a good thing, everybody come join the party."
COJO: "You are known for being an amazing word flipper. Do you think underground hip-hop will ever hit the mainstream?"
MF DOOM: "Mainstream usually follows what underground is doing, if you notice in the hip-hop industry, like even when Biggy came out. Biggie's shit was straight underground at first, you didn't even hear that shit nowhere. That's where it bubbles up from, so of course. It's going to happen again, it always happens. The stuff comes out raw, cats pick it up, the whole get up on it, it gets played out, then somebody gotta come up with a new style. I got the new style now."
COJO: "If you could classify all your albums as a genre, like a movie or a book genre what would you classify it as?"
MF DOOM: "Sci Fi, Horror, and Soft Core Porn. That's the genre, each one of them contains those aspects."
COJO: "I'm sure any young MC's out there writing lyrics would want to know how you come up with your material, how do you go about writing an album?"
MF DOOM: "It varies, sometimes I get one idea and I'm like "Man that shit would be ill if I do something with this!" And after that I start noticing things that are along the same lines. "Oh that sounds like it would fit good with this!" Grab em all up, even writing down little phrases or whatever on little pieces of paper until I got a bunch of stuff. Put all that together, edit it down and hopefully I have enough stuff. I do that until I have enough content that I will have enough to make a musical piece out of it."
COJO: "So this is your son?" (referring to Doom's baby)
MF DOOM: "I just had this baby boy three months ago. (MF DOOM holding a baby also wearing an mf doom mask) Don't get the wrong idea, this ain't no Michael Jackson shit, he's regular!"
COJO: "So say your kid starts getting older and wants to be the next lil' Romeo. Following in his dad's footsteps."
MF DOOM: "I'd be like, damn if you want to, do it. To tell you the truth, when you an MC you an MC born into it, you can't not do it. Some time I wish I didn't do it, but I'm like damn, but I can't help it, you know what I'm sayin'? I gotta write, so I write. If somehow he happen to have the had the knack, I would encourage it an help him do it. It's a good job if you can succeed at it, but its like only a few people really get paid. I'd rather him go into another field, you know, switch it up a little something."
COJO: "I understand, it's gotta be almost impossible to break into the big time."
MF DOOM: "Man, shit's like luck, half the shit. You gotta be able to write well, orate what you say, and your tone of voice has to be right, you gotta master the voice. So a lot of people might be good writers, but then their voice is annoying, so you got to have all three at the right time. I happen to be lucky, cause the fans are feelin' me so I'm going to keep bringing that raw."
COJO: "So tell me about you're new album
King Geedorah: Take Me To Your Leader.
MF DOOM: "King Geedorah is a three headed dragon straight from of outer space. He's not from Earth, he wasn't born on Earth, he's from outer space, he's a space creature type shit, he be off wylin between two nebulas. Now, he's here to be a producer, do his thing, stand like 492 ft tall, spitting electricity, three heads you know what I'm saying. What he do is channel lyrics through DOOM, he channels them through DOOM so DOOM can spit em for him. But he's a total MC, lyrical master. His whole thing is showing humans how they look from his point of view, almost a birds eye view of society. He's not a human so he can look at it really objectively. It's really just to show humans what they look like. We down here on Earth bullshitting really. He kinda pokes fun at the the humans. He drops joints in a humorous way though. So that's Geedorah's angle."
COJO:
"I'm glad to see there are still a few rappers out there that keep it raw. Thanks for lending me some of your time." (MF DOOM is holding his son who is also wearing a DOOM mask waving good-bye, Cojo is leaving.)
MF DOOM: "No Question, Peace!"
Just another day in the life of an Art Juggernaut.
-Cojo