Dr. Octagon "Dr. Octagonecologyst" (May 7, 1996)

Change is not a thing that flows by itself, but a plant to be cultivated and watered with the care of a wailing soul. This is the freshest, most creative, forward-thinking hip-hop adventure to emerge from the bowls of US minds in years. On the mic is the psychologically unstable Kool Keith ('armed with seven rounds of space-doo-doo crystals') of the Ultramagnetic MCs, while the seemingly poisoned beats come from various underground producers and DMC Battle Champs, like Q-Bert and the Automator. If The Roots and Dr. Octagon aren't the most next millenium hip-hop joints around in mid-1996, I don't know who is. This is one of those albums that takes a long time, open ears and a full pull on a big bong. Who said he could go ahead and break every rule every written on lyrical delivery? And where has Keith been hiding these last three years? Kool Keith at his most off-the-deep-end state in recording history, but like Poppa Large says on "Earth People", I was born on Jupiter, New York and California - so is this fucking record! Intense, creepy, exhilarating and brilliant. A left-field lyrical first in the history of hip-hop. Warning: A frontal lobotomy may be necessary after your first listening. See if you can follow it. - Revisit Kool Keith's off-the-wall classic below...

The above is as accurate today as it was when it was written in 1996.

Kool Keith / Dan The Automator "Dr. Octagon" (May 7, 1996)

Please read the above press release for Kool Keith's 'Dr. Octagon' ... I'll wait... Kinda wacky, right? That kinda explains my relationship with Kool Keith's music and his Dr. Octagon persona, an extraterrestrial time traveling gynecologist and surgeon from the planet Jupiter. That's also why this album is widely considered an underground cult-classic ... a secret handshake of sorts, those who follow the storyline and are hip to the plot-twists recognize its greatness and consider it one of the most creative, forward-thinking projects of the 90s. Originally sent out as an advance on Bulk Recordings in '95, it was released in limited (30k) pressing on this day in 1996 and even without much retail or radio promotion, it received critical acclaim. With demand from fans, the album was reissued in '97 on Dreamwork Records. Dan The Automator's production on the album was left of everything else that was out at the time and "provides a breath of fresh air with his style that's just two steps beyond the grasp of most of the hip-hop currently hitting the charts." The album has standout guests in DJ Q-Bert on the scratches, Kutmasta Kurt assisting on production, as well as DJ Shadow, and vocals from Sir Menelik. A press release from Dan The Automator went out announcing there's now a deluxe box set available; it included the following message: "Dr. Octagonecologyst is a classic record for what it is, but it’s not a classic hip-hop record. I’m not actually sure if it’s considered a hip-hop record at all. We had to do a lot just to get that record out there. That in itself was a bit of a monumental achievement. I mean, we made a record that, ostensibly, there was no market for. A lot of weird people came out of the woodwork and loved it."

The Dr. Octagon 'Blue Followers' music vcideo...

L'Orange & Kool Keith "Time? Astonishing!" (Album Stream)

If there’s a secret to time travel, Kool Keith owns the patent. Even a flying DeLorean seems too conventional for the Bronx legend. He’d more logically orbit throughout the galaxy in a gleaming chrome spaceship, teaching the stars and aliens new forms of originality. He is too weird to live, too rare to die, too uniquely ultra-magnetic to be accurately mimicked. Time? Astonishing! is the latest dimensional warp from hip-hop’s premiere astral traveler. His union with MMG producer L’ Orange finds him exploring uncharted terrain: choppy volcanic rock planets, ice glacier moons, new surgical procedures, and fresh rappers to toss into the ether. The scalpel remains eternally sharp. The themes aren’t dissimilar from his past opuses as Dr. Octagon and Black Elvis. But L’ Orange’s production appropriately coaxes the most appealingly baffling gonzo vision from Keith since his days collaborating with Dan The Automator. Welcome to the new world, even more sinister and suspenseful than the last one. We live in astonishing times: abstract, absurd, and indelibly Kool. The album is about a man in the early 20th century who is a bored explorer and finds technology to go into the future - but he does so without any sense of adventure. He travels through time as if he is traveling to Tuscaloosa. He is then hospitalized as insane and then goes into suspended animation (a metaphor for his subconscious while sedated in the hospital). The adventure begins only after the album is finished, the record is all the thoughts and introspection before things really begin. - MMG