RIP MF DOOM

A seemingly brutal 2020 got a little worse on New Years Eve.

I was preparing some food for our at home New Years celebration, because we are all in quarantine, as you should be, when I heard news that MF DOOM had passed away. Well, I should say that I didn't hear. I was looking at Instagram and noticed a ton of people posting pictures of him with no caption. The people posting were rappers, actors and friends of mine. I immediately thought two things, either he had new music coming out, or that he was dead. Unfortunately the second part was true.

I was floored. I googled his name right away to confirm the news. It was everywhere. Every music publication and major news network had confirmed that DOOM had died. I then saw his family post on Instagram that the news was true, and that he had actually passed away in October. He died on Halloween in fact. Again, I was stunned. I had heard nothing about him being sick, getting sick or anything. He hadn't put out new music in awhile, but he takes a ton of time in between records, so honestly, I hadn't thought about him for almost six months. But this news soured my mood. I texted a good amount of people I knew that listen to him, and they were just as stunned as I was.

This sucks. This was one final kick to the crotch from 2020. Lots of people die every year, but 2020 took it to a whole other level, and took some musical geniuses along the way. I mean, I don't know many casual fans that know DOOM, but people that do, they know hip hop. DOOM had been making some great music in the early 2000's. He would put out many different albums, all of which were unique and different and simple and cool in only a way DOOM could do. He also was making beats for many rappers and helping them achieve notoriety. DOOM not only did his own thing, but helped others along the way. But what I adored about him, his music, was how different and how cool it was. DOOM had a very excellent way of rhyming and writing and delivering his lyrics. His beats were straight ahead, yet different from everyone else out there. The lyrics were my favorite though. Instead of glamorizing things, he called out rappers for this. He made fun of how famous rappers talk about women and money and material things. He went the total opposite direction of all the other rappers out there.

The album of his I love the most is the one he did with Danger Mouse called "DangerDoom". This album is one of the best rap records period, and it is made so much cooler because they added Adult Swim people on the album. The characters from "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" were on this album. Space Ghost makes an appearance. All the shows that I watch, they were on this record. It was cool to have Danger Mouse produce it, DOOM rap on it and have Adult Swim characters appear. After hearing news of his death, this was the first record I put on to honor his memory.

Just when 2020 was about to be over, we got this news, and it was a real bummer. At least his family got some time to grieve without having the media all over it. They had some time to mourn their loss. Now the rest of us are mourning this loss. DOOM was, and always will be, one of the greatest rappers that ever lived. He was too young. He was only 49. This stinks, and it was one final blow to a brutal year. RIP DOOM. You will be missed.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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The Greatest American Band Debate: Rick Rubin and Brian Burton

SeedSing is filled with music lovers. We can not agree on who is the best band from the States. The Greatest American Band Debate will be a regular feature where we discuss and compare bands who started in the good old USA. If you have any suggestions of bands we should debate Contact us seedsing.rdk@gmail.com

In lieu of talking about another band today for the greatest American band debate, I'm going to talk about two producers. These guys are legends in the music business and without them, we would never have gotten some of the greatest bands of all time. They're both mainly producers, but one also doubles as a pretty good musician. The two people I'm going to talk about today are Rick Rubin and Brian Burton, AKA Danger Mouse.

Let's first start with Brian Burton. Danger Mouse bust onto the music scene with the legendary "Grey Album". This was a "mashup" of the Beatles "White Album" and Jay Z's "Black Album". This record was incredible. He perfectly blended Beatles with Jay Z. We had never heard anything like this before. Now, it's commonplace for DJ's and producers to do "mashups", but Danger Mouse was one of the first. This record was also impossible to come by. He didn't get permission from the powers that be to make it, so the few that got released were hard to get your hands on. You had to know someone who knew someone that had a copy just so you could get one. It's a masterpiece.

With the acclaim that followed "The Grey Album", Danger Mouse was in high demand. He began to work with a lot of artists. He, along with Cee Lo Green started the band Gnarls Barkley. An awesome concept for this band. Green did the vocals and Danger Mouse did everything else. They put out two awesome albums. The way he met Green was working with him on the "Danger Doom" album. This was Danger Mouse and MF Doom. MF Doom is an awesome, but under appreciated rapper. Their "Danger Doom" record is an excellent concept album. They used Adult Swim cartoons as their base and wrote rap songs to go along with it. Some Adult Swim people that appear are Master Shake, Harvey Birdman and Meatwad, to name a few.

Later on, Danger Mouse was called upon by the Black Keys, one of my all time favorite bands, to be the first outsider to produce one of their albums. He came to work with them on "Attack and Release", their first real ambitious album. He's since worked almost exclusively with them, making their sound more complete. He's added bass where needed and piano as a cherry on top of their unique sound. He was one of the driving forces behind their most recent and most ambitious record, "Turn Blue", and I will be forever grateful to him for making the Black Keys take some much needed steps to further their sound and push the limits.

Danger Mouse also has the band Broken Bells. This is him and Shins frontman James Mercer's side project. This is a great platform for Mercer to step away from the indie rock sound and really take some big vocal chances. He has to hit so many high notes with Broken Bells and he does great. That's something he would have never done in the Shins. Broken Bells is great.

Danger Mouse has also done work with a lot of other famous artists, Jack White, Norah Jones and Sparklehorse among many, many others. Danger Mouse is probably the second most in demand producer right now, and everything he's done so far has been pretty great. He's a top of the line producer.

The only guy that may be more in demand than Danger Mouse has got to be Rick Rubin. I mean, the dude co created Def Jam Records first of all. Just google Def Jam and look at all the ultra famous people that have been on that label, it's astonishing. He and Russell Simmons created an empire. They both created probably the best rap label of all time. Bands like Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Run DMC owe their fame to Simmons and Rubin. Even a guy like LL Cool J they made famous. Rubin is a total recluse, but when he emerges from his cocoon to work, this guy never disappoints. He was the producer on the "Black Album", Jay Z's best in my opinion.

Rubin has worked outside of rap music as well. His clientele includes  the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, the Avett Brothers, the Dixie Chicks, Adele, Rage Against the Machine, Slayer, Mars Volta, Mick Jagger, the list could go on for days and days. He's even done stuff with Lady Gaga, Shakira and Ed Sheerhan. He has definitely expanded his grasp on all music.

The one thing you hear when people talk about working with Rubin is what a great professional he truly is. He has a knack for hearing and knowing great music. Before him, the Avett Brothers were just another run of the mill folk group. Rubin made them great. Same thing can be said about the Dixie Chicks. He produced their only listenable record. Rage Against the Machine knew they were working with a legend and let him do his thing, ending with great results. Lady Ga Ga, Shakira and Ed Sheerhan should thank their lucky stars that Rubin agreed to work with them. That's a huge compliment. Slayer and Mars Volta made their best stuff with Rubin on board. He's a genius, there's no other word that better describes him. Rubin's talent was on full display when he  got the absolute best out of an almost dead Johnny Cash. Those last two albums of his are masterpieces and a lot of that has to do with Rick Rubin being the producer.

They may not be a band, but we cannot talk great American music without mentioning these two guys that have helped produce so much of it. I can't wait to see what Danger Mouse and Rick Rubin do next.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. As a kid he thought Puff Daddy was the only producer in music. He has since become aware of others. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.