The following is a Designated Cheerleader piece by @SpimTobley for the Best Album of 1991 tournament. I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you follow the link to vote in the tournament. Thanks!
This is the mission of the day: Get people to vote for Mr. Hood, the debut album from KMD (listed as an abbreviation for “a positive Kause in a Much Damaged society” on the album cover, though also referred to as “Kausing Much Damage” elsewhere in the lyrics) in the Best Album of 1991 bracket tournament. I’ve identified the three most likely types of votes the album will get, and what follows is an appeal for each one:
1. The Kudos Vote (a positive Kause)
Even in 1991, a high water mark year for hip-hop releases, Mr. Hood stands tall. (In my view its only competitors not just for hip-hop album of the year but for album of the year are The Low End Theory and De La Soul Is Dead.) Notably, it marks the album-length introduction to one of hip-hop’s most unique voices, Daniel Dumile, later to adopt his iconic MF DOOM persona. Here, he’s known as Zev Love X, and he’s joined by his younger brother, Dingilizwe (going by the name Subroc) and their friend, Alonzo Hodge (Onyx the Birthstone Kid). Zev Love X’s voice had already been heard on the classic diss track from 3rd Bass, “The Gas Face” (i.e. reacting facially to another’s MC skills the same way you’d react to their flatulence), but he shines when given a full album to showcase his talents. Not even out of his teens at the time of recording, Zev Love X employs many of the techniques that would be touchstones of his later MF DOOM records, including samples mined from children’s programming and his complex, one-of-a-kind delivery. He’s not content with a simple end-line rhyme scheme when he can cram in as many internal rhymes and alliteration in a way that sounds both natural and preternatural. While Zev Love X is undoubtedly the star of the show, his compatriots Subroc and Onyx rise to the occasion at every opportunity—just listen to them trading verses on the track “Soulflexin’” to hear how well-matched they are as a trio. Also serving as a precursor to DOOM’s talent in creating characters, there’s practically a fourth member on this album, the titular Mr. Hood—not an MC, but a voice sourced from language instruction albums that offers running commentary throughout. Introduced as a preferred customer at a jewelry store that the other members are in the process of getting shooed away from, Mr. Hood’s interactions with KMD are just one of the many playful ways the group examines the world around them. Mr. Hood’s stiff line delivery and condescension when discussing black culture likely sounded a lot like the label executives KMD had to deal with at Elektra. And since the Dumiles weave their already-deft sampling skills into the skits, they never outstay their welcome. In crafting the album, Daniel and Dingilizwe took clear inspiration from De La Soul’s seminal 3 Feet High and Rising, a masterclass in out-of-left-field samples. This inspiration is on its sharpest display on the album’s lead single, “Who Me?,” which incorporates a particularly indefensible sample from a popular children’s record to offer a lively and cutting criticism of the use of black caricatures in media. On Mr. Hood, Sesame Street samples are only a couple minutes away from snippets of Malcom X speeches, retaining the latter’s searing insight but making it supremely danceable. While De La Soul had to stage their own funeral on their follow-up to tackle darker material, KMD found a perfect balance of upbeat samples and harsher realities. And as they remind us while rapping about their desire to grow fuller facial hair on “Peachfuzz,” they managed to achieve this before they exited puberty.
2. The Memorial Vote (a Much Damaged society)
Sadly, Dingilizwe “Subroc” Dumile never made it out of puberty. While preparing KMD’s follow-up, the darker and soon-to-be controversial Black Bastards, Dingilizwe was struck dead by a car while crossing the Long Island Expressway on foot at the age of 19. Anyone who interacted with the Dumiles in KMD recognized the bond the two had, and this loss was referenced frequently in DOOM’s lyrics. In interviews, DOOM speaks lovingly of his brother and also notes that Subroc was largely responsible with the end sound on Mr. Hood and was even more involved in the ideas behind Black Bastards. Pete Nice of 3rd Bass said that Black Bastards was when Subroc “had come into his own.”* I put a lot of focus on DOOM’s later work in the previous section simply because he was able to live long enough to bless us with more music. Dingilizwe never got that opportunity, and the music world was robbed of a tremendous talent on April 23, 1993. And we were again robbed of a great musical talent on October 31, 2020, though the world wouldn’t find out until two months later that Daniel Dumile AKA MF DOOM AKA Zev Love X had passed away at age 49. Ultimately, the average lifespan of the Dumile brothers in KMD was 34. We know the innovative new directions MF DOOM was able to take hip-hop on his own, but after already producing a classic right out of the gates in their teens, who knows what heights the two could have reached together? A vote in their direction ultimately won’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but it’d be a nice way to honor their memory just a little bit.
*For more context on Black Bastards (and a better researched story of KMD than I can provide), I highly recommend this article by Brian Coleman:
3. The Diss Vote (Kausing Much Damage)
As much as I hope just the music itself, not to mention the last two sections of this piece, have convinced you to vote for KMD, there’s another reason I’m writing this: I don’t want to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers advance to the next round. I had a lot of plans for this paragraph—one comparing RHCP to Mr. Hood himself, co-opting black culture while benefiting from their whiteness; another lamenting the fact that RCHP was headlining festivals around the world while MF DOOM was being denied reentry into the US, unable to see his wife and kids—but I trust there will be plenty of people taking up the mantle of Red Hot Chili Peppers hate in the comments. And as much as I believe that RHCP advancing won’t introduce them to any new listeners while more rounds for KMD very well might, my main reason for encouraging you to vote against the Red Hot Chili Peppers is this: Years ago, I had the utter misfortune of walking in on my parents having sex while they were listening to Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The less rounds they appear in, the less I’m reminded of that trauma, so please, give Red Hot Chili Peppers the Gas Face so I don’t have to remember my dad’s O-Face.
