by Krishan Meepe (@krishanye)
In this bleak, post-MF DOOM landscape we live in, Super What? is understandably getting a level of attention it normally wouldn’t. It’s difficult to approach it simply as the follow up to Czarface Meets Metal Face instead of a gift from the beyond, courtesy of your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. Hearing DOOM’s voice is definitely an evocative experience, a melancholy reminder of the immense talent he possessed. The “Super” sample popping up sporadically through the album does nothing to stop the nostalgia, bringing back memories of hearing Mm..Food for the first time. Being the first posthumous release from someone who influenced an entire genre, the nostalgia factor is simply unavoidable, but Super What? is not the profound meditation on life and death you might want it to be.
Postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these songs were recorded in April 2020 before anyone could have known of its importance in DOOM’s catalogue. While there’s a lot of things it isn’t, Super What? still has a lot going for it. This isn’t some mish-mash of left-over DOOM verses stitched together in a cash grab, this is one of the last things he got to work on. It’s good, light-hearted fun between friends, backed by bouncy beats you can nod your head to, with more than a handful of moments that’ll make you crack a smile. On face value, “A Name To The Face” seems like little more than a collection of samples from media voices struggling to pronounce Czarface correctly and making low blows about the group’s irrelevance. Halfway through the beat gets the heavy bass line meets funky backbeat treatment, you really have to be trying if you can’t see the fun in it. The opening verse on “Doom Unto Others” hits all the right buttons, the trademark flow with rhymes you never see coming over eerily pretty soundscapes. “They're mostly all on dork mode, molder than pork glow / Foretold, feed 'em a whole fork load,” spits DOOM before passing it to Esoteric, “even though your words go unheard like the T in Pinot Grigio / I gotta cut you short like the 2020 season bro.”
If you want something low-key you can spin with the homies, this is it. Clocking in at just 27 minutes, this is all consistency no filler with some choice features from the likes of D.M.C. and Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. There’s surely more posthumous DOOM releases to come and it is refreshing to hear his legacy continue. Super What? is definitely enjoyable, just try to avoid the hype.