Released: 31/03/23
This brilliant sophomore album from MF Doom (AKA Daniel Dumile) – back when he was known as Zev Love X – and his brother Subroc, who tragically passed away in 1993 during the LP’s completion, seems to have fallen victim to white America’s unwillingness to entertain any notion that its credo of freedom and exceptionalism is indelibly tainted by the the horrendous crimes of slavery and lynching, for while it was originally scheduled for release in 1994, the LP was unceremoniously shelved by Elektra Records at the eleventh hour, due to controversy surrounding the album’s ‘provocative’ cover art – which means that a grief stricken Dumile wasn’t even able to pay homage to his brother, in the aftermath of his death, through the album they had made together.
The album was finally released in 2001, and this red-vinyl reissue is a reminder of just how important this incredible record is. As socio-politically engaged art, it’s a masterclass in how to exploit the peculiar audio-visual object that is the LP to its full potential, in its sophisticated disjunction between the direct, furious power of the album cover, the sheer inventiveness and positivity of the joy-inducing jazz-inflected beats and loops, and the mesmerising lyrical flow of the two brothers as they speak about the stresses of growing up as Black men in urban America. Musically and lyrically, Black Bastards is a thrilling, joyful record; wise, thoughtful, often hilarious, and sometimes angry, but never bitter – which is yet one more remarkable aspect of a record that is full of truly remarkable things.