MF Doom's new album 'Expektoration Live'

“It’s always good to be home,” announces rapper MF DOOM to a New York crowd on the new live album Expektoration feat. Big Benn Klingon, Gold Dust, September 14 2010. “It’s like a big-ass family reunion in here.”

For over 20 years, MF DOOM has existed on his own planet in the hip-hop universe, entertaining and confounding listeners with his unique mix of playful samples, outrageous showmanship, and esoteric lyrical references.

Gold Dust is proud to present Expektoration, the new live album that documents a show in the life of the most mysterious rapper in hip-hop and gives an ultra-rare glimpse into this enigmatic figure.

Lost amid all the talk of imposters and substitutes is the rapper’s own innate ability to rock a crowd. Broken up into two acts, complete with intermission, Act 1 draws mainly from 2004’s MM..FOOD and Madvillainy, the latter of which Pitchfork called “one of the most anticipated releases in underground rap history” and “inexhaustibly brilliant.” DOOM breathes new life into tracks like Food’s “Kon Karne” and Madvillainy’s “Accordion,” constantly working the crowd while never letting his intricate, tongue-tying rhymes get the best of him live.

After a “Star Trek”-themed intermission (Don’t ask. Just listen.), the man behind Vaudeville Villain, Born Like This and Unexpected Guests revisits his 1999 debut solo album Operation: Doomsday on Act II. “Hey!”, which deftly flips the theme song from “Scooby Doo” and has become one of the rapper’s best-known tracks, dovetails right into the smooth “Rhymes Like Dimes” for a balance of the absurd and soulful. Listen closely at times and you’ll hear the audience recite every lyric along with the emcee. Also included on Act II are the 2003 single “Change the Beat” and an appearance by DOOM’s alter ego King Geedorah on “The Fine Print.”

While nothing can replace the live experience, Expektoration offers the best mix of DOOM’s intense and sustained energy with joyful absurdity (the opening shots are a man stating, “Expectoration, or spitting, is a common side effect of speaking Klingon. Until you are used to it, keep a napkin or handkerchief nearby.”)

Mercurial shaman. Brilliant recluse. Prolific madman.

No one will ever be able to understand a mind like DOOMs, but Expektoration gets you one step closer to experiencing the rapper’s frenetic, energetic and interactive live performances.