Villainous Emergency Rations ::Lean-N-Mean III W/O::

...V keeps comin' back with more and more hits...

The Smooth reference ("DWYCK", wha'? wha'?) this rap world of stage actors and stock characters never ever wanted to hear from the villain. He terrorized the game and inflicted pain like Saddam Hussein while putting so-called "artists" to shame. He took the stage, burnt it down, and turned vaudeville into a too-real thrill. And now his rhyme scheme dreams are even rubbing off on my, errr, writing.

He is MF Doom and his wildest, most dangerous alter-ego has returned with "VV2: Venemous Villain"; a little something to keep hip-hoppers filled up until the main course arrived in the form of "MM...Food". But let's not overlook this little treat too quickly. You like potato skins, don't ya?

As opposed to handling the job like a one-man lyrical wrecking crew, as he did on "Vaudeville Villain", Vik makes this a community project based on chilling atmospherics, the typical comic book movie samples, and a lot of guest emcees. Vik goes MIA on his intro to let System-D128 introduce the "Viktormizer" in proper villainous fashion- abstract noise and beats with all the cracked-out mad scientists you could ever want.

And then he arrives.

Diplo aids System-128 to bring on "Back End", a two-parter that goes from thrilling electro synergy to an eased-back, slow guitar-sampled chiller. Vik doesn't fail us either, first spooking us and then merely flexing his verbal muscle, letting it be known that nobody on Earth can play with words like Doom. Then if you failed to recognize, Vik and his crew hit you off with "Fall Back/T*tty Fat" which switches up the beat a dizzying three times. From an abstract science lab feel, to a straight up street-life guitar-driven backdrop, to an eerie broken violin, Vik gets every chance to abuse the chrome microphone and he takes care of business. What else did you expect?

To make sure we understand that MF Doom is totally f-cking mental, we have "Doom on Vik". It's just a skit, but isn't it sort of a weird to hear one person talk about their own alter-ego like they were another person? Then again, it's this sort of strange stuff that makes this Viktor Vaughn material so interesting. Somehow, we must believe that the artist is halfway to a straitjacket.

Eventually, the problem we run into is that Vik Vaughn just doesn't feel like sticking around in this world of the plastic and synthetic, as his mic time is greatly compromised for his crew. Vik kicks it a little bit over the classy piano-laced "R.A.P. G.A.M.E." before clearing the way for Manchild and IZ-REAL. He does the same for Poison Pen on the simply frightening "Bloody Chain". It's not like these other guys are so bad rather than you are just hoping for more Vik. If you're getting too much of the bad guy's minions, you start feeling more like Robin, less like Batman. And who wants to be a sidekick?

Then again, if the guest just happens to be Kool Keith, you might be able to get away with stepping away from the mic. People say Doom jocks Keith; I say "Zzzz, Zzzz, oh, did you say something?" Anyhow, over slow-moving, horrorcore synths and dark percussion, Doom and Keith battle all competition, taking their hearts and their ambition with them. The villain might be hooking up with the crooked doctor, but who's to say the baddies don't win sometimes?

In the end, what we have here is a little Vik Vaughn Light. Not enough Vaughn, or enough songs, to declare it the next masterpiece in the legacy of Doom. Potent enough through dirty beats and fire-proof lyrical exercises to keep heads nodding for another half-hour of dark villain goodness. I suppose you could complain. But then Vik would have to kill you.

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This review is my entry into sleeper 54's Lean-N-Mean III Write-off. It clocks in at 638 words. At least that's what Microsoft Word says and she never lies. Yes, she's a female. Duh.

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Viktor Vaughn
"VV2: Venemous Villain"
Insomniac: 2004

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12 Tracks
32 mins. & 53 secs.

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For more information about Cryptic Cradle and his reviews, please click here.

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Written by Cryptic Cradle for Spike-A-Delic Productions