Virtual MF Doom Tribute Party At The Cooperage
Mid Coast teamed up with Non-Pop! to throw a virtual MF Doom tribute show at The Cooperage Friday evening. The world learned of the legendary hip hop producer’s passing on New Year’s Eve, devastating the industry and fans alike.
DJs Mosh Wah, Swadetrackz, Moses, and Megadon along with hip hop artist Slang Troubadour all performed sets dedicated to Doom’s eclectic beat style. Slang Troubadour wrote some original material specifically for the event.
“Being on the stage again felt amazing,” Moses said. “It’s been a minute.”
“It was slam-sliggity-tastic,” Troubadour exclaimed. “Even though it was only a live stream, we still had enough awesome people here chilling and it felt like a little piece of normalcy. I always wanted to play at The Cooperage and this was an awesome excuse to get to rap over a bunch of Doom beats.”
Troubadour explains why it felt so important to have an MF Doom tribute.
“I’ve always liked his approach to making art…it’s very avant-garde. He was so witty and speaks to the abstract thinkers; a lot of MF Doom goes underappreciated because it just flies over peoples’ heads. My favorite thing about him is that every time you listen to a song you’ve already heard a bunch of times, there’s usually something you can pick up on that’s new, like “oh I didn’t realize how those two lines connected” or “oh that’s maybe what he was thinking about.” There’s obviously things you can dive into right away, but he’s so diverse with simplistic, goofy shit and also stuff you can sink your teeth into. He’s so smart when he rhymes where he’s not really doing it fast or slow; he’s just entertaining you while keeping his pitch really low. I just love the character he built, where he took reality and blended it with his fiction.”
“Doom always represented the crazy, artsy, alternative side to everything,” Moses added. “I first heard Doom on “November Has Come” by Gorillaz – and I thought it was tight – but then Atmosphere put out an album that was originally on cassette called “Headshots: Se7en” and it had a bonus disc that was like a Rhymesayers sampler preview CD…and I heard “Deep Fried Friends.” Another real Doom moment for me was when “Mm..Food” came out, I biked to Atomic Records and the CD was packaged in a tin foil wrapper and I thought it was the coolest fucking thing…I hope I still have that wrapper somewhere. From the first song, everything is so conceptual. Doom lets you be weird; he’s for all the kids that are just not status-quo normal. He makes it okay to be weird.”
Non-Pop! is known for bringing in visual artists to live-paint during their events. Resident artist SuedeDragon describes their process.
“What I try to do is, whatever music is going on, I either stroke the brush to the beat or drum the palette knives to the beat. It’s my mood mixed in with whatever the vibe is for the night.”
Moses and Slang Troubadour announced during the show that they’re starting a new duo act – Reality TV. The two have worked on music together for a while through Higher Education Records but this is their first proper project. Moses elaborates.
“We’ve got an EP on the way, some singles, two music videos…we’ve got a podcast called “Tobey, Tobey, Tobey” because we fucking love Tobey Maguire. The EP is good vibes and a diverse kind of music; it’s funky shit and we hope y’all like it.”
Mid Coast’s fourth edition will be on Friday the 21st.
