DOOM performs “Ballskin” live at The 100 Club, London, on April 18th, 2003.

This looks pretty appetizing. From StonesThrow.Com:

Release date: June 21, 2011.
Pre-orders at Stones Throw will ship the second week of June, 2011.

MF DOOM’s debut album OPERATION: DOOMSDAY was originally released in 1999. It has seen at least two different versions on different labels, gone in and out of print, bootlegged, and even released once with a cheap scan of the original cover.  This is the first complete & remastered version of OPERATION: DOOMSDAY, containing the original album, alternate versions, b-sides and instrumentals – 42 tracks total – with all new artwork.

Following the CD/Lunchbox release and digital release, we held off announcing the vinyl until we were able to absolutely confirm a release date: June 21, 2011.  This is a release of Metalface Records.  Artwork by Jason Jagel, art direction by Jeff Jank.

Vinyl Box Set Contains:
4 RECORDS: The album, the instrumentals, b-sides, alternate versions.  Tin box with four records protected by paper dividers and cushioned inner box, as seen in the photos below.
LYRIC BOOK: In large 7×7-inch format, 32 pages.
CARDS: The 10 Doomsday MC card set.

The weight is a hefty 3.5 lbs.

M.F. Doom + Nas – “Nastradoomus Vol. One”

From StonesThrow.Com:

As we announced back in January, DOOM’s own label Metalface Records is releasing the first complete & remastered version of OPERATION: DOOMSDAY, containing the original album, alternate versions, b-sides and instrumentals – 42 tracks total – with all new artwork and two deluxe, metal formats:

2/CD LUNCHBOX and 4/LP METALBOX each contain a 32-page lyric book and set of 10 cards with images of the Operation Doomsday MCs. Stones Throw has an advance pre-sale for the lunchbox beginning today. These will ship out March 28th.

Exclusive Stones Throw ship date: March 28. Official release date is April 25. The 4/LP METAL BOX will be released later in Spring 2011.

DOOM fires off some tour dates for his trek around Europe.

Wed 13 Oct 2010 – UK – Manchester – Academy 1
Thu 14 Oct 2010 – UK – London – Brixton Academy
Fri 15 Oct 2010 – UK – Brighton – Concorde 2
Sat 16 Oct 2010 – UK – Bristol – Academy 1
Tue 19 Oct 2010 – FR – Paris – Bataclan
Wed 20 October – NL – Rotterdam – WATT
Thu 21 October – BEL – Brussells – AB
Fri 22 October – DE – Munster – Munsters Palace
Mon 01 November – DK – Copenhagen – Vega
Wed 03 November0 – NO – Oslo – Spikerboks
Fri 05 November – FI – Helsinki – Nosturi
Sat 06 November – SE – Stockholm – Göta Källore

With Operation Doomsday originally being pulled from shelves due to it’s Dr. Doom featured cover art, it’s been some time since the album has been available. Traffic Entertainment Group is getting ready to release the reissue in the near future, and painter Jason Jagel gives a preview of the new improved cover in the above time-lapsed vid.

This was Doom’s first UK performance ever, recorded last week @ The Roundhouse in London. No Doomposter here… Photos by watchlooksee.

HEY, THAT’S NOT M.F. DOOM!

Well, you can take this for what it’s worth, but MF Doom will be “performing live” at the following dates – and by “performing live”, we mean… well, we don’t really know what that means these days. But hey….

ZURICH – March 7th – TICKETS

LONDON – March 5th – SOLD OUT
Sonar Showcase including Lex DJs

PARIS – March 3rd – TICKETS

AMSTERDAM – March 4th – TICKETS

NEW YORK – Feb 26th – TICKETS

TORONTO – Feb 25th – TICKETS

Changing the blueprint from album to album, Born Like This once again scraps any pre-concieved notions of what to expect from the record, by this time enlisting several different producers to help animate his unique rhyme style. While many of his other records have either been entirely produced by him, or collaborations with one producer (Danger Mouse, Madlib), this time the production palate is varied. He starts things off with a loose-knit Dilla tribute on “Gazzillion Ear”, a track that digs up three lost beats from the late producer, as Doom recites his lyrics as if Dilla is still here, catching himself mid-verse. Later, another Dilla “Donut” is employed, as “Lightworks” finally gets a fitting rhyme tribute, while Stones Throw frontman Madlib gets dark and jazzy on “Absolutely”, evoking early his Alkaholiks / Lootpack style.

While these collabos are to be expected, Doom breaks the mold a bit bringing some new artists into his world. The ties to Wu-Tang Clan get even tighter, as both Raekwon and Ghostface make appearances in separate places on the record with vivid tales of criminology on “Yessir” and “Angelz”. Underrated Seattle based producer Jake One also helps out with his brand of raw boom bap, as Doom weaves his usual style of cadence driven rhymes on each “Ballskin”, “Microwave Mayo”, “Rap Ambush” and “More Rhymin’.

The brooding “Cellz” is built around the album’s title, which is derived from 60′s era poet Charles Bukowski, as the poet himself reads pieces of his composition, setting up Doom’s rhyme that builds upon the topic. On the lighter side of things, “Batty Boys” finds the Super-villain lambasting his homosexual superhero enemies, painting all-too-vivid pictures of the dynamic duo hand-cuffed to each other naked. While homophobia in hip-hop is nothing new, it was a bit surprising to find something like this on a 2009 release.

Other negatives on the album are instead owed to his collaborators. While Slug absolutely murders his verse on “Supervillainz”, Kurious does little to inspire any excitement for his forthcoming Doom-produced sophomore LP. Meanwhile, the random “Still Dope”, featuring a solo performance from Empress Starhh Tha Femcee, seems a bit out of place.

There’s no real method to Doom’s  madness here, he is a natural at his craft. One can’t really categorize the songs on this record, as this is the forgotten art of hip-hop in it’s rawest form, and it’s also good. One thing is for sure, this is what Doom was born to do. – D.T. Swinga

Robinson presents himself as a well-traveled, underground hip-hop legend.  The native New Yorker was formerly with the east coast group ScienZ of Life.  On “Indy 102,” he breaks down how to make it in the independent scene:  Getting your Web site up and running, hiring a good manager, working your way from open mic nights to touring with a band, making sure you have plenty of merchandise to sell, etc.  It’s a bit inside hardball if you’re not an underground rapper, and it’s done so earnestly (Robinson complains with some seriousness about the annoyances of air travel–“just got to the airport for a two-hour bag check/missed the first flight now you’re late for sound check”) that it doesn’t really give you the impression this is a fresh voice you’ve been missing out on.

And, if you’re not familiar with Robinson’s work, you haven’t been.  He’s just not all that good.  Not terrible–the kind of opening act you might see at a show, and say, “Well, it could’ve been a lot worse.”

The production from MF Doom is fairly solid throughout, but without a special MC to carry the album, it fails to inspire.

Songs like “Shrink Rap” and “Outta Control” are your requisite odes to hip hop, and Robinson critiques the state of the game:  “When I say shrink rap that means the culture is shrinking/faster than you can blink, man/and most don’t give an inkling or care/as long as some dough is there so heads can buy some more bling bling to wear/call me J dot, R dot, the anti-bling/spread like small pox in this hip-hop thing.”

There’s nothing awful about this run-of-the-mill independent-style release.  J.R. just isn’t the antidote he thinks he is.  - Stefan Schumacher