One of my favorite rap artists is Daniel Dumile, better known as MF Doom (although now he goes by just Doom). Perhaps the one thing that intrigues me most about Doom is that his rap personae is based on the villain Dr. Doom from the Fantastic Four series. Dumile's real face has never been revealed in public since he began wearing the metal mask based on the same mask worn by the character Dr. Doom. This anonymity allows him to not have to deal with the "side effects" of the celebrity status. Not only are his lyrical acrobatics amazing, he is quite the fan of appropriating music/sound fx to include in his songs. I included in a post before a song from his album Mm...Food. In this album he takes sound clips from old Fantastic Four and Justice League cartoons to create the foundation for the majority of the songs on the album. The album's title is also an anagram of Mf Doom and is themed around food and related issues...even food safety. It's an amazing album that I encourage you readers to check out.
The second album is another album released by Mf Doom under the moniker King Geedorah, a character based on King Gidorah from the Godzilla series. In this album Doom also uses appropriated sound clips to weave together a story that fits in with the flow of songs on the album. Much of the content of the album is a critique of society and its insecurities; Doom speaks about the album:
"You should listen to the album for what it is and not expect it to be like the average "rap" stuff you’re probably used to. Geedorah is a space monster. He's not from the Earth. I made it different on purpose. A blend of ill lyrics and instrumentals. To me its way iller than any of the wack shit out now... This whole album is Geedorah's alien perspective on humans. This is done intentionally to show the listener a mirror image of his/herself and the way we see each other. On the album we cover different subjects ranging from race issues to the neglect of children. Some might find the word "Nigger" offensive, or the line about the young girl not being able to read maybe considered a "bad taste" joke. All these insecurities are within us."
The reason I post this under the title of Conceptual Personae, is because I wonder if this could be a possible method/personae to adopt in order to outline a concept that fits in the medium of the internet - using recognizable media to weave an understandable narrative. It's definitely possible and has been something that I always wanted to do. Perhaps a possibility for Part 2 of our class.
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