Originally released twenty years ago yesterday, this Sunday Classic is concerned with the culinarily-focused Mm..Food? from Drift icon, MF DOOM.

Regular readers will know full well that British-American rapper MF DOOM (please, all caps) is one of our biggest obsessions. A rapper with few equals, a collaborator of huge invention and a producer responsible for one of the most storied and revered careers in the world of Hip Hop. Originally released on November 16th 2004 on the Rhysayers label, Mm..Food? Is an absolute gem in a positive treasure chest of riches. It was the end of an 18 month period that saw the release of Take Me to Your Leader as Godzilla-inspired King Geedorah and Vaudeville Villain and VV:2 as Viktor Vaughn, before returning to the MF DOOM nom de plume for the official follow up to 1999’s Operation: Doomsday. MM Food..? was also bookended by the collaborative Madvillainy LP with Madlib as Madvillain and The Mouse and the Mask with Danger Mouse as Danger Doom, so 2003 - 2005 has to go down as one of the most purple of all career purple patches going.
Although still stacked with Doom (the comic book supervillain to be clear) cartoon samples and superhero narratives, MM Food..? is a bonkers concept album about food, “things you find on a picnic, or at a picnic table” as he explained to Spin magazine in an interview around the album's release (which if you do have the time is an enlightening read).

There is a theme running through the album with Doom (again Dr. Doom, not to confuse the two) being elected as World leader, but MF DOOM still finds time to rag on sucka MCs and heap praise on girls, weed and a lot of snacks. It is such a bizarre and enthralling world of food-related metaphors against a darkly comedic portrait of a life tainted by vice, violence, and jealousy. The production is just fantastic, a crazy tapestry of Saturday morning kids show superhero lines and vivid crate-dug samples to include; Dr. Dre, Bryan Ferry, Big Daddy Kane, Sade, The Herculoids, The Electric Company, Climax Blues Band, Frank Zappa, Cortex, Yellowman and stacks more. It’s predominantly self-produced (well, technically it was produced by ‘Metal Fingers’, but those fingers are the property of DOOM), apart from Count Bass D on one track, production team PNS on another and Madlib on "One Beer", that was apparently originally intended for inclusion on their collaborative Madvillainy LP.

The mood remains focused throughout.
His rapping is just elite, a swank baritone that loops hypnotically with preposterous flex and also such genuine humour too. His silliness is unparalleled and MM Food..? has so many laugh out loud moments. As delectable as it was the first time we heard it, Mm..Food? is truly evergreen as an album. The jokes still hit every time. The one liners, the vivid samples, the rich fug; it’s all just amazing.

Whether it's your first time playing this album, or you’re going back to this well loved classic, we hope you enjoy spinning it and trust that you'll fix up something nice to eat alongside it.

+ To celebrate the album’s twentieth anniversary, Rhymesayers have produced a really lush new package on tri-colour ‘sweetart’ marble effect coloured double vinyl. Jason Jagel’s iconic original sleeve illustration has been reimagined by Sam Rodriguez too, it’s a really beautiful thing.