The Evolution From Zev Love X to MF DOOM

Basically, it was a time between, I guess, like '94-'95
And then we didn't hear from you 'til, again 'til '97
When um, by-by then, you had become officially MF DOOM
So, has anything in particular happened in that
Two, two-and-a-half year period that was molding you into
What we would hear, you know, when we first heard Deadbent?
What was the process?

Well Dan, here's what happened
Studying hip-hop and studying flow a lot of cap is coming out
A lot of soloists is coming out and getting money and blowing
Now I was really rocking at the time
Meth came out you know the Wu solos were kind of
Like started budding out Biggie was out
It was like a good time for the soloist, you know what I'm saying?
Um, and, uh, you know, that's when I was, like
Really trying to find a slot, or a good angle that I could come at
That would be different from everybody's style, it somethin', somethin'
That, you know, I could do without too much of a problem
Like a technique that I could just easily master with one formula
But still, it would be different than anybody else's shit, you know what I mean?

So that's when I came with the DOOM shit, it was just like
Really just simplicity at its finest, you know what I'm saying?
Just strip everything down to just the raw essence of rhyming
You know what I mean? Like, no ad-libs, like, aight, when you rhyming
Usually when we be rhyming, it'd be like outside or at school
And you're right there rhyming in a little circle or whatever
You know what I'm saying? That's how it was when we first started
And whatnot, and that's like, to me, the essence of it
Or like even on stage, a microphone and or in a party
Just you and the mic and the beat, you know what I mean?

So it's really, I basically, doing the DOOM style on that
It's just, um, you know no adlibs, no chorus, ill, ill verse, you know
To where if you were standing right there, there was just four of us
You would hear it the same as if you would hear it in a car
Or if you heard it in a stadium or-or a club or whatever
It's just that MC, that beat, and them lines, them punch lines
And, you know, if-if it's two MCs battling in that-, in that kind of setting
Where it's like a circle and it's just two muhfuckers goin' voice-for-voice
And style-for-style, no, nothing fancy, you know?
Two MCs tirin' out at those times, you know what I mean? (For sure)

So that's where, you know
There's no gimmicks, you know what I'm saying, involved
I took that and said, all right, let me, let me use that as the basis
A lot of captains, you know, oversaturated choice of choruses
And, you know, like, cheesing the game up a little bit
I think captains started getting lazy, you know what I mean?
A lot of money came into the game
So captains getting lazy, doing short verses
You know, you know, kind of cheesy

So I said, all right, I'm going to just burn it down, if you burned it down
Back like how when we was burning it down when everything first started
Where you could, you know, any corner in Queens
Hear cats spitting and somebody would be real nasty, hittin' it
"Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da," probably for 20 minutes straight
With no nothin', no choruses over a beatbox, you know what I mean?
I said, all right, if we could bring it to that level
Then it, then it'd be, then that-that's different enough
To where I think the character would stand out, you know what I mean?
At the same time, bring the game back to is-, you know, how I remember it