Sometimes, you see some cover art, and you immediately know that you’ll at least give the record a chance. This is one of those times. Mickey Diamond is a prolific underground rapper from Detroit. He’s a member of a crew called the Umbrella Collective, and he just released Gucci Ghost 2, a collaborative album with producer Big Ghost LTD, a few weeks ago. He’s been picking up some serious buzz lately, and now he’s got a new EP where the cover is an homage to MF DOOM’s 2004 album Mm.. Food, except it’s got the Shredder instead of DOOM. You’re obviously going to want to hear that.
It’s good! Mickey Diamond has a deep, resonant voice and a way with intricately constructed punchlines. Diamond recorded the new project — it’s 10 tracks in 23 minutes, so I guess that counts as an album — with producer Ral Duke, who’s mostly known as a graphic artist. Duke’s refracted boom-bap definitely owes a lot to MF DOOM, and that’s a good thing. There are many, many references to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all through the record, which is practically a cheat code for some of us. Stream it below.
Oroku Saki is out now on God Sound/Umbrella Collective, and you can order it here.
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