Anatomy of a Verse Anatomy of a Verse

Part 2 of the MF DOOM story. We discuss his alter-egos, his commitment to music over image, his relationship with Madlib, his dizzying rhyme schemes, and his ridiculous ability to dissect how old words, memes, and cultures can morph and shift into somethings new.

The Independent Hip-Hop movement exploded in the early 2000's. While MF DOOM was on the forefront in New York, a triple threat who called himself Madlib was turning heads in Los Angeles.

The greatest Hip-Hop comeback story of all time. The music industry rejected him, so he rallied an entire community and became a legend.

MF DOOM's beats deserve their own category. With unconventional breakbeats, sloppy drum programming, and sample choices that could be adventurously unadventurous, DOOM made everyone rethink the rules of Hip-Hop production.

Earth, Wind & Fire's keyboardist – Larry Dunn – created one of the coolest and most underappreciated instrumental interludes of all time by playing along to a different song... backwards. This is just one of many ways in which EWF helped usher in the Hip-Hop revolution without actually making hip-hop music.

Kendrick Lamar's 'Control' verse is a brilliantly written love letter to the era of competitive Hip-Hop. In this episode, we examine all the clever references and homages, as well as the misleading media feeding frenzy that followed its release.