Within the spring of 1996, an interstellar gynecologist with doubtful medical credentials docked on Earth and introduced himself to well mannered hip-hop society. Going by the skilled identify Dr. Octagon, the deviant medic was an alias of Kool Keith, a maverick whose science-fiction-inspired lyrical abstractions sprang from his early life as a lead pressure within the Ultramagnetic MCs throughout hip-hop’s late 80s golden period. Backed by producer Dan The Automator’s area opera soundscapes and embellished by turntable sorcerer DJ QBert’s scratches, Dr. Octagonecologyst grew to become one in all hip-hop’s best workouts in exploring the inventive potential of the persona.
“My skin is green and silver, forehead looking mean/ Astronauts get played, tough like the ukulele/ As I move in rockets, overriding levels/ Nothing’s aware, same data, same system,” raps Keith by means of introduction on the agenda-setting “Earth People.” Backed by twisting strains of Automator’s wormy synths, Keith proceeds to make use of “supersonic bionic robot voodoo power” and observe a model of mutant medication that takes in non-typical situations together with moosebumps, rectal rebuilding, and a curious case of chimpanzee pimples. (Naturally, at one level a horse gallivants by way of the hospital.)
Take heed to Dr. Octagonecologyst now.
Presiding over the “church of the operating room,” on “Blue Flowers” Dr. Octagon overtly outlines a set of unusual skilled priorities: “With blood pouring down your mouth/ I come prepared with the white suit and stethoscope/ Listen to your heartbeat/ Delete! Beep, beep, beep/ Your insurance is high, but my price is cheap.” In the meantime, Automator’s mix of rustling drums and a crawling violin line play the position of a very unnerving ready room jingle. Fittingly, the track ends with Qbert’s scratches revealing themselves to be a petrified human cry for assist.
Kool Keith was already prepared with a skewed flip of phrase, however Automator’s manufacturing on Dr. Octagonecologyst animates the MC’s lyrical eccentrics. Armed with nuclear LinnDrums and megasonic bass, Automator musters up a distinctly retro sci-fi environment with grand sweeps of celestial synths and lonesome strings. Dr. Octagon’s realm is futuristic, nevertheless it isn’t slick – Keith’s eccentric experiments happen in dimly lit working rooms adorned with blood splatters and crusted bodily fluids.
In a hip-hop yr that will finally be outlined in mainstream popular culture by Jay-Z’s hustler’s playbook Cheap Doubt, the pop ambitions of The Fugees’ The Rating, and 2Pac’s private All Eyez On Me, Kool Keith’s Dr. Octagon was strictly outsider stuff. Appropriately, a model of the album was launched in the UK on James Lavelle’s influential trip-hop label Mo Wax, nodding to the album’s leftfield attraction. However gleefully going towards the grain has at all times been Kool Keith’s motivation and the attraction of his music – even when, on this case, it means listening to the small print of a very grisly case of bees across the rectum.
Take heed to Dr. Octagonecologyst now.
