Doom - Born Like This (2009)

Doom
Born Like This (2009)
I was pretty sure Born Like This was going to be the next Chinese Democracy; the Hip-Hop Chinese Democracy, I should say. After so many unfounded release dates went by and MF Doom's impostor antics sullied his legacy a little, I was skeptical that the promised March 24th 2009 release date was actually real. But then three things happened: 1) Chinese Democracy was actually released, 2) official artwork and an official track list for Born Like This surfaced, and 3) I remembered that Dr. Dre's Detox already holds the title of Hip-Hop's Chinese Democracy, making Born Like This more like hip hop's...I dunno, new Jeff Mangum album or something.

So a fortunate day, March 24th turned out to be for me. Along with Mastodon's Crack the Skye, two of my favorite artists in their respective genre's would release new albums that day. It wasn't as fortunate a day for Born Like This. After leaving the record store with both albums in hand, Mastodon won a coin toss I used to determine which one I'd listen to first, and I never really looked back. Born Like This got a few spins here and there, but with nothing immediately striking about the album, I didn't feel the need to stick with it for extended periods. Frankly, the initial letdown proved the album to be the disappointment that I thought it would be but hoped it wouldn't be.

While I can't say that time was great to Born Like This, it did start to catch on a little after a couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I would call it a good album, but it is not as bad an album as I originally felt. Even after a several year hiatus, Doom's flow is still intact for the most part. While there's a noticeable lack of mind-blowing couplets that he'd previously been able to deliver habitually, he's still one of the most skilled rappers out there. He only falters noticeably on "Batty Boyz", if only because the homophobic undertone of the song is highly disappointing to me personally. If he wants to call other rappers' sexuality into question, that's nothing new, but he already did that on Mm..Food's "Beef Rap" ("Yuck, is they rhymers or strippin' males/Out of work jerks since they shut down Chippendales"), and he did it better, with more class, and in less words.

Even with that aside, Doom is missing something here, and it's not just the MF. There have been many a word written about the origin of the tracks on Born Like This and how some were cobbled together from previously released unofficial mixtapes or something of the sort or...I don't know. I can't say I've payed a lot of attention to any of that, but there is a bit of a disjointed feel to the album. The songs really do seem to have been collected from different recording sessions; there's even a couple of tracks that sound almost completely unmastered. Apparently there is a theme connecting the songs, but I've yet to place it. If there is one, I can't say I'm eager to figure it out. Mm..Food had an obvious theme, but it also had a number of good songs that made the listener care about the theme. Born Like This? Not so much. Unfortunately, the good here is outweighed by the average, which is ultimately what the album is.


Score: 5/10


"Absolutely"


"That's That"