Key to the Kuffs

by JJ Doom

Overview

When you set your collaboration bar as high as Madvillainy, all future collabos are subject to over-scrutiny, but MF Doom spent 2012 rekindling his love of the super-hero team-up, joining Ghostface Killah for the DOOMSTARKS single and partnering with abstract rapper/producer Jneiro Jarel for this slab of smart and wild. Make that U.K.-inspired smart and wild as the now 41-year-old Doom reflects upon his birthplace of London in the year his hometown is hosting the Olympics, although there's no Danny Boyle-ish wide-eyed sense of wonder here. There is, however, Blur's Damon Albarn, who lends some songwriting and a mumbled hook to "Bite the Thong," the album's crooked, key track. Portishead's Beth Gibbons is on board too, cracking through the track "GMO" with her icy siren song as Doom goes forks over knifes in a Kool Keith fashion, warning "Whoever uses canola oil, you're soul will boil/For a longer time than it takes a diet cola to spoil" before making Chuck D jealous with the simple and direct "Breeds of a needless variety/In the name of greed we get a seedless society." No surprise then that the angry, environmental-minded cut falls on the bitter side of prickly, and welcoming moments -- like the electro-rocking "Rhymin Slang" -- are scant on Keys to the Kuffs, to the point where if you're not insider, it could be to a fault. Jarel is a fair partner and best as a hypeman or techno-minded partner behind the scenes, and while "Guv'nor" is so Brit it smells of fish, chips, and Beckhams, it's a distracting or absent concept elsewhere. Still, Doom drops "Depends on your status or your stacks, sir/Whether you benefit from the prior or the latter-er" as if it was nothing, and with plenty more of these moments hidden inside, fans will find that Key to the Kuffs goes from confusing letdown to intriguing mystery after just a couple listens. ~ David Jeffries

Product Details

Release Date:	08/21/2012
Label:	Lex
UPC:	0878390002016
Rank:	33681

Tracks

1. Waterlogged
2. Guv'nor
3. Banished
4. Bit the Thong
5. Rhymin Slang
6. Dawg Friendly
7. Borin Convo
8. Snatch That Dough
9. GMO
10. Bout the Shoes
11. Winter Blues
12. Still Kaps
13. Retarded Fren
14. Viberian Sun, Pt. 2
15. Wash Your Hands

Album Credits

Performance Credits

JJ Doom   Primary Artist
Beth Gibbons   Vocals,Featured Artist
Khujo Goodie   Vocals,Featured Artist
Shannon Powell   Percussion
Del the Funky Homosapien   Vocals,Featured Artist
Damon Albarn   Vocals,Featured Artist
Roderick Skeaping   Violin
Boston Fielder   Vocals,Strings,Featured Artist
MuthaWit Orchestra   Strings
Damon Albard   Vocals,Featured Artist
Gone the Hero   Featured Artist
Indigo   Vocals

Technical Credits

Beth Gibbons   Composer
Khujo Goodie   Composer
Shannon Powell   Composer
MF Doom   Composer
Drew Brown   Mixing,Unknown Contributor Role
Jneiro Jarel   Composer,Producer
Dr. Who Dat?   Mixing
Earl Scioneaux III   Mixing,Engineer
Thom Yorke   Composer,Producer
Capital Peoples   Composer
Damon Albarn   Composer
Omar J. Gilyard   Composer
David Andrew Sitek   Composer,Producer
Ray Staff   Mastering
Jonny Greenwood   Composer,Producer
Stephen Sedgwick   Mixing,Unknown Contributor Role
Doom   Mixing,Arranger
Metal Fingers   Mixing
Daniel Dumile Thompson   Composer
Roderick Skeaping   Composer
Steve Powers   Artwork
Matt Colton   Mastering
Willie Knighton   Composer
Beck Hansen   Composer,Producer
Klaus Thymann   Portraits
Tom Brown   A&R,Executive Producer
Michael Volpe   Composer,Producer
Will Knighton   Composer
Boston Fielder   Composer
MuthaWit Orchestra   Composer
Will Skeaping   A&R
M. Taveres   Mixing,Composer,Producer
Theresa Adebiyi   A&R
T.D. Jones   Composer
John Webber   Mastering