MF DOOM Translation

Recently, an MF DOOM interview surfaced on hiphopdx, and I figured I should write something about it because noone’s heard SHIT from DOOM as far as interviews go in a long while. Instead of being a lazy bastard and just posting the link or some gay shit like that, I’m gonna translate DOOMian speech to those who might not as of yet have a full comprehension of the villain. This won’t be the whole interview, just some parts that translate well into common english…

HipHopDX: So just to get it out of the way, can you address the recent scandal where you were allegedly sending an impostor to perform in your mask at DOOM concerts?
DOOM: [Laughs] Alright. Here’s how I look at it, because the wording in there is kinda funny. “Impostor.” Impostor would imply that the character. I liken it to this: I’m a director as well as a writer. I choose different characters, I choose their direction and where I want to put them. So who I choose to put as the character is up to me. The character that I hired, he got paid for it. There’s no impostor.

DX: But the fans are presumably going to see you, as that character.

People need to think outside of the box, Hip Hop is not just what you expect it to be. This is a growing genre, it’s a creative field. So when you come to a DOOM show, I’m letting all the cats know now, come to hear the show and come to hear the music. To see me? Y’all don’t even know who I am! There are certain times I did shows and shit, I took a year off, and I went back to doing the character. I couldn’t find nobody to do the character so last minute I said, “Fuck it, I’ll do it.” [I] came back, did the show, lost a little weight. You know, I’m trimming down, watching my diet. I come back, do the show, sound was excellent. But as soon as I get off the stage, they’re saying it wasn’t me. Alright, it’s never me. I’m the writer. It’s a show. That’s where it’s getting twisted in Hip Hop. It’s all visual. People want to go see the guy with the big chain who’s bragging about all these cars that he has. That’s where it gets twisted. This is music. Technology makes it possible for me to still do music and not have to be any particular place. I’m using all that. I’m using every aspect at my disposal to project my creative thoughts. Either people gonna get it or they not. But I’ll tell you one thing, if you’re coming to a DOOM show, don’t expect to see me, expect to hear me or hear the music that I present. And it’s gonna be a unique experience every time. So that’s all I have to say about that.

TRANSLATION:

I’m as guilty as OJ.

OJ

DX: What’s the status of the album with Ghost?
DOOM: Now that this one is out the way, progress will be picking up. It’s about 40% done. Forty-two percent done, if I had to say. But then it’s hard to gauge because everything is speeding up now, so it could probably be done real fast, within two months I could have it done. Madvillain seems like it’s closer to being done. I’m working on the shit now. That shit’ll be done within the next two months. I don’t know when they gonna put it out. Otis [Madlib] is the producer, so I don’t really have to do too much. I think on this record, we’re mixing it up. I’ll have more production on this one. We’re thinking of doing half and half on production and half and half on content. I’m also working on a record for Williams Street, that’s Adult Swim’s record company. I think I’m gonna do [the alias King] Ghidra on there. I’m not gonna set that in stone, but I think Ghidra might be coming out on Williams Street. So by the end of the year, all of them will be done.

TRANSLATION:

Fuck Tyler Perry, he’s not funny at all.

(Now I know that one might be hard to grasp, but I know that Tyler Perry’s not funny, I hope YOU know Tyler Perry’s not funny, and DOOM strikes me as having good taste, so I’m gonna assume HE knows Tyler Perry isn’t funny, so this is the translation I got out of it.)

DX: Is it hard for you to channel that essence with your brother being gone?
DOOM: Anytime you lose a family member there’s a grieving period. But it’s not really no different, it’s just a different realm, just a different form of communication. We’re all gonna go to that realm eventually. As long as you know that you can still know how to communicate with them. They’re not gone, you just can’t see them with the naked eye. The naked eye only picks up a certain spectrum of light. What else don’t we see and what side are we on? Maybe that’s the right side and we’re gone. Connections never break. Energy can never be created or destroyed. Anything that it changes to is just change. If you know how to tune into it, it’s the same thing. So to me, any of my brothers that are on the other side, I can just still tune into them. If I’m thinking about them I’m talking to them. I can hear them, I still laugh around them. It might look weird like I’m laughing in the room by myself, but I’m laughing with Bukowski, I’m asking his permission, I’m talking to [J] Dilla, I’m talking to Sub. To me, that’s how it is. I think we’re all headed in that way of overstanding, but to get over the emotional hump is what’s important. When people feel like they lost somebody that they love, to know that they’re not gone. There’s no such thing as out of existence. They’re just in another realm. They can hear us and all that from that realm, we just can’t see them and hear them with these tools that we have. Or we do have the tools to see them and hear them, we just have to go inside and utilize those tools. Not to get too mushy with the shit.

TRANSLATION:

I’ve smoked a LOT of weed in my day…

And there you have it, DOOMian speech translated into common english. If you ever need help with something like this in the future, come crawling back to me.

Oh, by the way, if you want to read the full (but untranslated article), it’s right here

DOOM INTERVIEW