Dr. Octagonecologyst - Dr. Octagon (1996)

Ideated from: the digital crate digging of pre-Napster MP3 sharing.

note: you’ll want headphones for the intro or you’ll be embarrassed.

Kool Keith is a weirdo. He was in a pretty standard NYC rap crew called Ultramagnetic MCs, and while I don’t know them very well, I don’t think there was much there to tip off his personal idiosyncrasy. Then he went solo and we saw what a mad scientist the guy was.

This is Keith’s first solo outing, under one of his many pseudonyms. It’s a bizarre slab of afro-futurism and sex and goofy character work. I guess it’s a concept album, but good luck keeping up.

Most of the record is produced by Dan The Automator, a fellow traveller in the oddball-late-90s-afro-futurist-rap space (I was actually going to write up his Deltron 3030 project today, but I went with this one instead). DJ Qbert scratches on it, in the futuristic turntablism style that was emerging as a new force in hip hop. Between the forward-thinking production and Kieth’s old-school funky and theatrical flow, this record is some important connective tissue between that old school rap and something more designed and ambitious.

Kieth’s rhymes are great, even if they don’t make much sense most of the time. It’s sound over meaning in a lot of places, but it’s a great sound. He just seems to live in his own world, and we get a glimpse of it.

Tracks I Liked

Earth People - He was born on Jupiter.

Blue Flowers - strings and some wicked bass

Bear Witness - a great vocals-and-turntables workout