The #droctagon album is one of those genre defying anomalies. I always had a harder time getting into rap mainly because my suburban white upbringing didn't coincide with the lyrics of most of the rap I had heard. I've always enjoyed the deeply rhythm based music but the poetry didn't effect me. When I heard this CD the weird sci-fi sexual stream of conscience lyrics weren't alienating to me. I know that sounds weird because I'm not a sex obsessed extraterrestrial. I just didn't feel fraudulent enjoying the words. The rapper Kool Keith who adopted the Dr.octagon persona for this release is a well documented anomaly in hip-hop. He's a polarizing character with an immense discography. This was my first exposure to him and ultimately my favorite. After years of listening to this (it was released in 1996) I became aware that the real reasons this CD is so damn good is the producer Dan the Automator and turntableist DJ Qbert. The sci-fi soap opera aural setting for the rap is an alchemistic perfect storm. Everything is perfect. Every bloopy-bleep is precisely where it needs to be and every sample - scratch is tasteful and masterfully done. All you have to do is listen to the instrumental track "bear witness" to hear their masterful and seamless production shine. The album is a unique listen that has a universal appeal. That's no small feat.
Oh and it has a Pushead album cover so I would prob own it even if it sucked (I'm looking at you Blitzspeer).
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