Vaudeville Villain

Orpheus Listening Challenge 2025: #24 An album by an artist who released it under an alter ego (8th Album)

MF Doom surprised me.

If you're on the internet, you're probably familiar with the work of MF Doom, the east-coast rapper with Shakespearean tendencies that people love to drool over. In my quest to conquer the top of the musical charts of this wretched site, it was inevitable to go around Madvillainy, which left a bitter taste in my mouth, thus my whole image of MF DOOM is this rapper who almost recites allegorical lyrics over (overall) okay beats.

But Vaudeville Villain is an album that might just convince me to revisit it, and listen to other MF DOOM releases. Vaudeville Villain has that trademark comic atmosphere, with urban and glitchy beats reminiscent of a paranoid episode, or a pounding headache that just won't go away. The ambient parts of the beats are trippy, and remind me of horror games such as Silent Hill or Resident Evil. Lyrically it feels much darker, or that just might be the beats seeping into the delivery. Either way, a real surprise, and a joy to listen to, actually. Something I thought I'd never say for a Doom album.