Here’s how I imagine it going down at Elektra Records.
Peon: And next on the agenda, um, the new KMD album.
Executive: Is it good?
Peon: It sure is.
Executive: What’s it called?
Peon: Black Bastards.
Executive: What? That could be a problem. Let me see the cover.
(Peon hands album mockup to Executive)
Executive: Jesus H. Christ on fire! Fuck that bullshit! We’ll be massacred! Pull it!
In my head I see the reaction being similar to the apoplectic fit Flick’s mother goes into in A Christmas Story. You know, when Ralphie’s mother tells her Ralphie learned the eff-bomb from Flick. Unfortunately, the Elektra decision was probably much more cold, calculated, and corporate than that.
So an excellent album by Zev Love X, DJ Subroc, and Onyx the Birthstone Kid was sent into virtual exile when Elektra decided the cover art of the follow up to Mr. Hood (1991) was just too much for this fragile world to handle. What Elektra missed out on – and Subverse picked up and released in 2001 – only began to emerge from obscurity as fans of the reborn Zev persona – MF DOOM – started diggin and dustin off in an effort to learn more about the enigmatic man in the iron mask.
If you’re accustomed to the current MF DOOM style, it may be strange (for non-3rd Bass fans) to hear his early flow. But, it’s good stuff and you really should pick up the album if you call yourself a hip hop aficionado
Dig in …
KMD – Black Bastards
KMD – What A Nigga Know
