Bruce Wain Invokes the Villain on “We All the Same, No Callin’ Names”
“Gift with the grind, criminal mind shifty cat/Swift with the nine through a 59Fifty hat” sheeeeeeeesh.
Out of the 366 days of 2020, very few hit as hard as December 31st; a final kick to the head of a man long since down. It was the day I had found out that London rapper, producer, wedding officiator, and benevolent supervillain Daniel Dumile had departed us at the age of 49. A man of many monikers, Dumile donned that iconic introduced the world to MF DOOM, the most prolific, prominent, and notorious characters in hip-hop. Armed with naught but a metal mask and a supercharged mic, DOOM took to the booth and spread his gospel to youths around the world, spinning enchanting tales of metal-faced terror and cold beer. It’s no wonder that he is heralded by many as “your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper”, his off-the-wall rhyme schemes fueling the pens of many emcees today.
It is also no wonder that one of Delaware’s best and brightest beatmakers Bruce Wain took to the lab and constructed We All the Same, No Callin’ Names, hip-hop’s latest tribute to the late supervillain. The project is 9 tracks long with just around a half-hour of remixed DOOM vocals over s*****s only found in the deepest of bins at an overseas local record store.
Anyone who knows anything about MF DOOM knows about how his skills as a producer are just as sharp as his skills as an emcee. Countless seconds of audio were looped and crafted whole universes for the Vaudeville Villain to run rampant through. Maybe that’s why Wain starts out the project with a clip of Black Daunte (a.k.a. Yasiin Bey, a.k.a. Mos Def) confidently putting money on DOOM outdoing Lil Wayne on “Dante On Daniel (Intro)”, a perfect carpet rollout for the arrival of the villain himself.
If there’s one thing that must be said about Wain, it’s that any s****e that gets loaded onto his laptop is chopped and spliced with the touch of a veteran surgeon. Influenced by legends such as Madlib, DJ Premier, and DOOM himself, Wain has proven himself to be an excellent student of the game. Even more impressive is his ability to construct a beat without adding any drum patterns, as demonstrated in “Your Man’s Bland Ballad”. The skeletal keys of the s****e have more than enough character in them for DOOM’s verse to ride them like Kelly Slater rides a 50-foot tidal wave. However, it’s when strings so sinister come in that we get a taste of how effortlessly Bruce Wain can infuse his s*****s with raw emotion; the suspenseful production akin to a cartoon supervillain’s theme song. Easily one of my favorite tracks on the album, Wain’s sonic touch creates an audible playground for DOOM’s bottomless book of rhymes.
Listen to “Your Man’s Bland Ballad here: https://brucewain.bandcamp.com/track/your-mans-bland-ballad
One thing about MF DOOM that I was (and still am) enamored with was the level of secrecy that came with his act. From the mask being constructed as a counter-culture to the rise of artists prioritizing appearances over substance, to his private life being a seemingly distant cry from the pictures he painted in his music, we would be hard-pressed to ever know the whole story of Daniel Dumile. That being said, “Secret Identity” is a track on Wain’s project that effortlessly embodies the ideology of MF DOOM. On this track, we get punched in the face by his jaw-dropping rhyme schemes, as well as a scathing verse from Harlem rapper Dave East. Towards the end of the track, Talib Kweli spreads the gospel of DOOM to listeners like a tale around a campfire. Ultimately, Kweli informs us of what most of us already knew: that DOOM’s skills, his influence, and his showmanship are all stuff of legend. We could only be so lucky to see such dedication to the craft today.
Another subtle aspect of this project that I appreciate is how each song ends with either nuggets of wisdom from DOOM himself or testimonials from someone who recognized his greatness; the brief vignettes providing a deeper look inside the mind who influenced millions. From Talib Kweli at the end of “Secret Identity” to the legendary Madlib himself walking us through he and Dumile’s creative process, the end of each song gets us just a little closer to understanding the villain’s creative processes; of course, the closest we get to understanding is DOOM himself emphasizing the importance of not rushing your craft, or the dangers of having a pen in one hand and a blunt in the other.
America’s most blunted, indeed.
Lex the Supervillain also gets tapped for a verse on “Stacks to the Ceiling Fan”, attacking the beat like a ravenous wolf; an impressive display of hunger from the Delaware rapper. Ever since the two released the single, “Bubble Dame”, Lex and Wain have built a solid rapport between each other, as Lex proves that the only person who can match his energy on a Wain beat is one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Listen to “Stacks to the Ceiling Fan” here: https://brucewain.bandcamp.com/track/stacks-to-the-ceiling-fan-feat-lex-the-supervillain
We All the Same, No Callin’ Names serves as one of the greatest tributes to one of the greatest rappers to ever live. Every song on this project plays as if DOOM was right there with Wain looping s*****s and dropping rhymes like dimes throughout the whole process. From a production standpoint, this project is even more proof that Bruce Wain’s loops run circles around his contemporaries. As he gets deeper and deeper into his bag, I eagerly wait to see what he does in the near future.
Stream or purchase Bruce Wain’s We All the Same, No Callin’ Names on Bandcamp!
