MF Doom - MM..Food

Following in the path of Kool Keith, complete with numerous monikers, but more prolific than Keith bothers to be, MF Doom has claimed a place at the top of the underground hip-hop heap. The mad villain’s tasty second album of the year, MM…Food, doesn’t necessarily blaze new trails but lives up to his personal standard of sounding like nothing else out there. As always, the sampling is top notch, with snips of the classic Fantastic Four cartoons and Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster standing out among a smattering other found sounds. Doom’s beats are choppy chic, more a credit to his rough style than a lack of effort. On top of Doom’s own productions, Count Bass D brings Dr. Dre’s “Fuck You” to the Doomiverse; Madlib brings the jazz to “One Beer;” and Mr. Fantastik’s guest turn on “Rapp Snitch Knishes,” well, they’re rapping about knishes and being badass, could it really be horrid? (No, it surely cannot, if you had any doubt.) With all the talk of food and superheroes (and villians) and all the other random stuff, the kind of boasting that beats rapping about bitches, guns or Christopher Reeve is what really makes this album worth listening to. [www.rhymesayers.com]