Homage to a classic
Moosebumps: An Exploration into Modern Day Horripilation is the long awaited comeback of Kool Keith’s Dr. Octagon project. The Dr. Octagon debut, Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996), introduces the character of Dr. Octagon as a bizarre alien gynecologist who can basically do anything it wants. Sample and MPC heavy trip hop production fit well with Kool Keith’s surreal and dense bars. On Moosebumps, this formula stays the same. While the production is enjoyable and well-engineered, and Keith’s technical ability is still fairly sharp with inventive colorful lyrics, the album is too safe and sounds like a lesser version of what we already had with Dr. Octagonecologyst.
The projects opener, “Octagon Octagon,” is one of the weakest tracks on the project. The repetitive lyrical shtick gets old fast; the production here is just fine, with your standard chunky trip hop drums under a moody, foreboding synth. Up next on “Polka Dots,” fast abstract bars describe Dr. Octagon’s bizarre sexual encounters among other crazed antics. This track is wild and Octagon hits us with dense, almost gibberish raps that still manage to share a specific tone and a subject to them. The hook is fine but the production is excellent, the outro is a highlight as bass unwinds into a simplistic modulating oscillator.
“Black Hole Son” is more of the same; the production is high caliber trip hop and synth work, but here Dr. Octagon can’t really keep the same energy in his rapping. “Power of the Word” is a decent filler track that features half-assed Black Sabbath inspired faux-guitar synths, and Octagon rapping about everything from the Obama’s, to aliens with S Curls. “Area 51” is a highlight, the production and scratching are top notch, the mix of hard hitting fast trip hop breaks, extraterrestrial synths and effect heavy jazz influences create an otherworldly place for Dr. Octagon to rap about being an alien.
“Bear Witness IV” is a good instrumental filler track with DJ Q-berts scratching all over this song. “Flying Waterbed” is a nice change of pace with classic soul/R&B instrumentation. Keith isn’t very adaptive to this slowed groove and the chorus is a little out of place. “3030 Meets the Doc, Pt. 1” is another highlight that has the members of Deltron 3030 come through and do their thing on another funky, wonked-out banger. Karma Sutra is basically nu metal. It works and it doesn’t. Keith’s silly lyrics don’t really fit with the dark heavy vibe of the chugging guitar like synths, but when he’s not rapping the tracks production is a great mix of genres. “Hollywood Tailswinging” is a great aggressive outro, mean bass drops are menacing and features a Dr. Octagon that is more thuggish and in your face, rapping about running LA with his gang of dinosaurs.
Moosebumps has great colorful, wonky beats and generally good performances from Keith. The problem is that this time around we already know what we are in for and the lyrics basically don’t matter in a lot of these songs. They are colorful and bizarre, but they don’t really change at all content-wise. It starts to become an exercise of how many tedious rhymes about aliens and sex we can fit into an album. On its own, it’s a great showcase of beats, scratching and technical rapping ability. Just don’t expect to be able to relate to or even be able to follow the content of these rhymes. There isn’t enough exploration here to set it apart from Dr. Octagonecologyst and this album ultimately sits in its shadow.
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