GENERAL INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW // ‘Did I Ever Tell You The One About… MF DOOM’ Podcast

Published on December 10, 2021

Did I Ever Tell You The One About…MF DOOM is a podcast celebrating and documenting the life and work of MF DOOM, one of hip-hop’s greatest artists. This in-depth series has been created with the approval of DOOM’s widow and estate. The podcast is helmed by rapper-turned-podcaster MC Serch, a childhood friend of DOOM, and features contributions from DOOM’s friends, family and collaborators. The first two episodes of Did I Ever Tell You The One About… MF DOOM are now live and arrive ahead of the 1st anniversary of DOOM’s death (31st October). Subsequent instalments will be made available each week. The podcast is soundtracked by DOOM’s widely-celebrated music and presented using Immersive Sound Design, 5.1 stereo sound. You can catch the interview with MC Serch below!

MC Serch, why was it important to you personally to preserve the legacy of MF Doom with this all access podcast series?

It was not just myself. My partner and wife Chantel and I were compelled to tell this story because we felt a sense of loss of not only someone I grew up with and lost touch with, but my wife lost her friend in some ways. DOOM and Chantel (and DJ Subroc) were close in those days. So for both of us this became a way to get close to DOOM again by learning about him through those who knew him best. I am so thankful to all the contributors who shared their stories with us.

MF’s nuanced and intricate lyrics coupled with smirk-inducing flows rapidly earned him legendary status in Hip-Hop. With a large list of friends, family and collaborators willing to contribute to the pod-series, what was the process of knitting and curating these individual accounts into a cohesive story like?

It is a great deal of work, but we have an amazing team around us. DJ Eclipse who Co-Executive Produced this with us, is a family friend, and someone who is extremely detail focused. So being able to bounce ideas of episodes off of him, and him giving me feedback on who we should reach out to was critical. Bret “Epic” Mazur, who is also a family friend, has become the go to sound design producer in Hollywood and was so helpful at crafting the stories. Nick Davila, our young gun in the sound design studio is a DOOM fan, pure and simple. So for him (and us) he was so helpful in asking us questions about DOOM and his life. So it helped us in gaining insight as to what should go where and when. Every member of this team gave myself and Chantel the right questions to ask, which in turn helped craft the episodes.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the sound design on this podcast is seemingly a reflection of the respect and admiration you have for your subjects. How important was the time spent and quality of the sound design in creating an immersive and nostalgic experience?

Our company, The Timeless Podcast Company, is built on the fact that we want to tell our stories in immersive sound design. We spent years researching how drivers in your headphones work, how sound design in cars works, how if you wanted to listen to this in your home theatre or through your SONOS, how that would work. Our shows our about preserving the history of the greatest to bless the mic, and do it in a way that not only tell their story better than anyone, but bring you into their world through theatre of the mind. For the most part they came up during a time where their stories and even career was dwarfed because the genre had not caught up to the importance of the culture. So the sound design is so important to me and my partner.

I remember reading The Source when Nas’s Illmatic came out. He received 5 mics and the review made me so proud to have a small part in the making of that album (as the Executive Producer). The only critique they had of the album was that it was too short. It left them wanting more. Fast forward to when I read the comments and the ratings for our podcasts and they give us high marks for the storytelling and I read that it was not only great storytelling but the sound design was EPIC, I get a similar feeling. It’s that nod to the work our team has done in bringing the fans of DOOM, and Big Daddy Kane, the ability to feel them, not just hear their stories.

How do you think ‘artistry’ in Hip-Hop has changed over the decades. Do you think mastery of craft is still as important these days in creating masterpieces such as MadVillainy?

The conversation about the changing of the artistry is getting old, for me personally. I don’t see a change in “artistry”. The craft of telling stories as an emcee is not only alive and well, but in my opinion, better than it has ever been. The mastery of wordplay in the hands of so many talented emcees today, in my opinion, is double what it once was. Back in the day I could name maybe 30 great emcees. Today, I can name those same 30 plus another 60 or more. All with as much talent, with their words, their effort and their artistry. We were extremely fortunate to come up when we did – to see the early creators of intricate word flow and posture, whose lyrics then transformed those who make music today. We live in a different time and in these times you either grow or die. I choose to grow and accept the change, and look for the best in the talent out there, opposed to be grumpy and complain.

What do your listeners have to look forwards to over the coming months?

The upcoming episodes of The Did I Ever Tell You The One About…MF DOOM are F**KING AMAZING and will blow fans away!!!

We also have our Breaking Anonymity podcast with Veteran Music Journalist Kyle Eustice and myself talking recovery over addiction through a 12 step program. We speak with amazing people like Royce Da 5’9″, Brandon Novak, Danny Boy O’Connor, Slaine (to name a few) about not only about overcoming addiction but how a 12 step program saved their lives. And my interview podcast “Serch Says” where I do one-on-one interviews with people like Chris Rock, Questlove, Neal Brennan, Bun B, Joseph Sikora (Tommy from the hit TV show “Power”) and many others.)