I recently spoke with Doc Oct himself, Dicky Long Docking aka Dr. Dooom aka Poppa Large– aka the one and only, Kool Keith. Black Elvis/Lost In Space turns 20 this year and I had Keith break down the making off the album’s hit single, “Livin’ Astro.” Every time I have an opportunity to speak with Keith, I take it. And every time we talk I’m reminded of how hilarious and eccentric he indeed is. Far-out and probably not from our galaxy, Keith pulls back the curtain on what went into the making of “Livin’ Astro” HERE.
The last time we heard from Keith was right after the NBA finals. It was hilarious and with Keith hitting us with guest posts throughout the year there’s more hilarity to come. But for now, he’s opening up for questions from the audience.
Hit us with your questions for Poppa Large at Nerdtorious@gmail.com with ‘Mail 4 Matthew’ in the subject and we’ll pass it along to Dr. Dooom. Who knows when we’ll catch him again so send your queries our way (all questions MUST be submitted BEFORE October 15th). We’ll post responses shortly thereafter. Fire away!
(Editor’s note: We’re delighted to have KOOL KEITH drop us guest posts! Yes, Black Elvis himself– who just quit rap— will be hitting us with monthly musings, running the gamut from answering reader mail, listing his favorite pornos, touching on classic Keith moments, or just random of-the-cuff posts. Who knows! Tune in for these monthly critical beatdowns! And here’s the first: a timely post on the recent NBA Finals. Read Keith’s thoughts and peep the rare, All-Star promo vid from ’89 featuring hilarious Ultramag raps!- DM)
Keith on this year’s NBA Finals:
“Lebron wanted a championship and he was real hungry. He’s also real sensitive, you can tell. Like if you say something mean to him he’ll have to try not to cry right away. He left the Cavs to gain a title and no one wants to play in the league for years and be an old man and not get a ring. Dirk waited forever and kept smelling it but Dirk already looks mad old. Lebron can smelled the ring and I think it was a lot for his head. It was a real good matchup and OKC was real nice. They’re young, aggressive cats and they have an old dude like Fisher on there to keep ’em balanced. A lot of these NBA dudes are old and have ugly faces, but some dudes like Fisher still run things. Plus Durant and Westbrook are young and so fast but I think Miami was just a bit wiser. It’s like rap. Everyone always likes the young rappers but the old ones are wiser.”
Me:You’ve worked with so many different producers through the years. How have those experiences struck you?
Kool Keith:If you just got off the plane from 42nd Street with crazy people yelling at you, and bums on the streets, and piss-filled elevators, and people upset, and traffic, and all that mess, your style isn’t gonna mesh with a producer who’s from a sunny meadow… they made the beats in their beautiful backyard, with a horse in their garden and poodles running around… I don’t want to rap over a fluffy beat from a producer who just picked flowers from his garden.
Read the rest of this new piece I did with Kool Keith on the recently relaunched Wax Po site.
