“Hmmm, I’m not sure about that shit.” Cue slightly uncomfortable silence. This wasn’t the start I was hoping for as one of rap, and indeed modern music’s, most intriguing voices gives my opening gambit short shrift (for the record I asked him about the reported beef between his old friend and collaborator MC Serch and the Beastie Boys).
I interviewed DOOM as a precursor to his first ever UK tour late last year (ed.back in 2011), including the much-anticipated London date with Ghostface Killah, as well as the not so small detail of the DOOMSTARKS collaborative album, Swift & Changeable. A release that still seems no closer to a reality several months on and is perhaps better left in a fragmented cyber space of memory, mystery and the imagination of rap raconteurs.
The only real nugget of insight so far has been the DOOM produced Victory Laps single (although the superior Madvillainz remix saw the first public airing) — steeped in DOOM’s signature lo-fi keyboard loop and dusty drum sound, both he and Ghost spit fire but it feels a little like a warm up, an aperitif — what of the main course? DOOM, evasive for perhaps the only time we speak, hints at the reason: “That’s my brother from another mother. Well, Victory Laps is out, it’s taken a while but it’s coming out. He’s (Ghostface) not easy but he makes it fun, trust me, there’s going to be a lot of story-type shit.”
