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The Missing Notebook Rhymes

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The Missing Notebook Rhymes
Compilation album partially released by
Doom
ReleasedAugust–September 2017
GenreHip hop
Length15:38
LabelAdultswim.com
Producer
MF Doom chronology
NehruvianDoom
(2014) 		The Missing Notebook Rhymes
(2017) 		Czarface Meets Metal Face
(2018)

The Missing Notebook Rhymes is a compilation album partially released in 2017 by British-American rapper MF Doom under the shortened alias "Doom". The album was intended to be a 15-song compilation of rare or unreleased Doom tracks that would be released on Adult Swim's website one song a week for 15 weeks—however, on 27 September 2017 Adult Swim abruptly announced the cancellation of the project, just seven songs into its intended 15 song tracklist.[1][2]

Background

[edit]

The Missing Notebook Rhymes was announced on 7 August 2017 on both Doom[3] and Adult Swim's[4] websites after Adult Swim received a folder from Doom containing 15 rare or unreleased songs.[5] The first track, "Notebook 00 - Negus", was released on Adult Swim's website alongside the announcement.[6] In an interview with Mass Appeal, Adult Swim creative director Jason DeMarco said, "They’re tracks that [Doom] either doesn’t have a home for, or they are part of other projects which aren’t necessarily complete, but we can sort of tease them . . . It’s sort of a peek at everything he has going on right now."[7] The second track, "Notebook 01 - True Lightyears", was intended to double as the second Missing Notebook Rhyme and also as the first single from Doom's original group KMD's still-unreleased comeback album Crack In Time.[8]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitlePerformerLength
1."Notebook 00 - Negus" (featuring Doom)Sean Price3:06
2."Notebook 01 - True Lightyears" (featuring Jay Electronica and Doom)KMD2:25
3."Notebook 02 - Doomsayer"Doom2:01
4."Notebook 03"Doom3:03
5."Notebook 04" (featuring Kool Keith)Doom2:29
6."Notebook 05 - No Refunds"Viktor Vaughn1:24
7."Notebook 06 - Pause Tape" (Remix)Doom1:10
Total length:15:38
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
RapReviews7.5/10[9]

Notes

[edit]
  • "Notebook 00 - Negus" also appeared on Sean Price's 2017 posthumous album Imperius Rex, which was released one day after the song's initial release as the first Missing Notebook Rhymes track.[7]
  • "Notebook 01 - True Lightyears" was intended to appear on KMD's comeback album Crack In Time, which remains unreleased.[10]
  • "Notebook 03"'s verse later appeared on the 2022 Danger Mouse and Black Thought song "Belize".[11]
  • "Notebook 06 - Pause Tape (Remix)" is an excerpt from the JJ Doom song "Pause Tape", released on the 2014 Bookhead EP, which cuts off just before the start of Jneiro Jarel's verse.[12]

Cancellation

[edit]

On 26 September 2017, following the release of "Notebook 06 - Pause Tape (Remix)", Adult Swim removed The Missing Notebook Rhymes from their website.[13] In a statement made the next day to Mass Appeal, an Adult Swim spokesperson stated, "Adult Swim is ending our relationship with Doom, and thus, the remaining Missing Notebook Rhymes will unfortunately have to remain…missing."[1] No reason was officially given for the cancellation, with both Doom[14] and Adult Swim[15] declining to comment.[9] The album's page on Adult Swim's website began redirecting to a cryptic short story called "What I Remember of the Crash", but soon just redirected to their homepage.[2][16]

On 31 December 2020, in the wake of the announcement of Doom's passing, Jason DeMarco gave his explanation for why the project had been cancelled in a series of Tweets after three years of silence:

Flash forward to like a decade later and I hear Doom really wants to work with me again. After several talks with his management we came up with the idea of the Missing Notebook Rhymes. Of course, once we [Adult Swim] start releasing them, we find two things out: A) Doom hadn’t paid the producers who made these songs or cleared the other vocalists or samples (of course he told us he had it all cleared). B) Doom owed music to a record label. Literally anything he released he owed to them. He didn’t tell us this. So the label came after us[.] It was, in short, a total boondoggle and of course we had to shut it down and apologize to a lot of people and pay a ton of money to a bunch of others.[17][18][19]

Missing tracks

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External link
METALFACE – Doom's SoundCloud page with the eight songs theorized to have been intended for inclusion on The Missing Notebook Rhymes

The Missing Notebook Rhymes was cancelled with eight of its 15 songs still unreleased, leading to fans scouring the internet for the remaining tracks.[20] Three weeks after the cancellation of the project, it was discovered that Doom's previously-unused SoundCloud page had suddenly began uploading new songs, the first of which was a Young Guru remix of the Missing Notebook Rhymes track "Notebook 02 - Doomsayer". Eight new tracks were uploaded in total, which have been theorized by many to be the eight missing tracks from the album.[21][better source needed]

Theorized completed track listing
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
8."DoomsayerSlayer.GuMix"Doom2:20
9."Masquatch" (featuring Doom)Flying Lotus1:50
10."Hydrochloric Acid"Doom2:10
11."Highs and Lows" (featuring MF Doom and Phonte)PRhyme4:38
12."In the Streets" (featuring MF Doom and BJ the Chicago Kid)Busta Rhymes4:22
13."Chinatown Wars"Ghostface Killah and Doom3:40
14."Reign... in the Subway"Doom2:25
15."Lil Mufukuz" (featuring Doom)Dabrye2:45

Notes

[edit]
  • "DoomsayerSlayer.GuMix" is a Young Guru remix of "Notebook 02 - Doomsayer".
  • "Masquatch" was made for the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V.[22]
  • "Hydrochloric Acid" is an excerpt from the WestSide Gunn and MF Doom song "2 Stings", released on the 2017 EP WestSide Doom.[23]
  • "Highs and Lows" originally appeared in 2015 as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of PRhyme's self-titled album.[24]
  • "In the Streets" originally appeared on Busta Rhymes' 2015 mixtape The Return of the Dragon: The Abstract Went On Vacation.[25]
  • "Chinatown Wars" was made for the 2009 video game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.[26]
  • "Reign... in the Subway" is an excerpt from the Czarface and MF Doom track "Nautical Depth", released on the 2018 album Czarface Meets Metal Face.[27]
  • "Lil Mufukuz" also appeared on Dabrye's 2018 album Three/Three.[28]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Lakshminarayana, Raghava (27 September 2017). "Doom and Adult Swim End Their Relationship". Mass Appeal. Archived from the original on 27 September 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b Breihan, Tom (27 September 2017). "Adult Swim Mysteriously And Prematurely Ends Its Partnership With Doom". Stereogum. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  3. ^ "ADULT SWIM PRESENTS Doom'S "THE MISSING NOTEBOOK RHYMES"". GasDrawls.com. 7 August 2017. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  4. ^ "The Missing Notebook Rhymes". Adult Swim. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  5. ^ "Adult Swim to release Doom's The Missing Notebook Rhymes track by track". The Wire. 11 August 2017. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  6. ^ Darville, Jordan (7 August 2017). "Adult Swim Will Release 15 Brand New Doom Tracks, And You Can Listen To One Now". The Fader. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b van der Doelen, Doelen (14 August 2017). "Behind the Scenes of MF Doom's New Adult Swim Project". Mass Appeal. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  8. ^ Montes, Patrick (16 August 2017). "Doom & Jay Electronica Collide for KMD's First Album Single in 24 Years, "True Lightyears"". HypeBeast. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  9. ^ a b Juon, Steve (26 January 2021). "MF Doom :: The Missing Notebook Rhymes". RapReviews. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  10. ^ Carmichael, Rodney (16 August 2017). "Doom And Jay Electronica Debut 'True Lightyears,' Teasing A New KMD Album". NPR. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  11. ^ Spinelli, Adrian (12 August 2022). "DangerDoom Reunites Thanks To MF Doom's Posthumous Verse On Danger Mouse & Black Thought's 'Belize'". Uproxx. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  12. ^ Hiphop, Hotnew (4 October 2017). "The Missing Notebook Rhymes.zip mp3 – MF Doom". HotNewHipHop. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  13. ^ Scott, Dana (27 September 2017). "Doom's "Missing Notebook Rhymes" Series Appears To Be Doomed". Ambrosia for Heads. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  14. ^ Gerth, Austin (28 September 2017). "Adult Swim takes Doom's Missing Notebook Rhymes too literally, deletes them and cut ties with Doom under mysterious circumstances". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  15. ^ Monroe, Jazz; Blais-Billie, Braudie (27 September 2017). "Adult Swim Cuts Ties With Doom, Deletes The Missing Notebook Rhymes". Spin. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  16. ^ Geslani, Michelle (27 September 2017). "Doom and Adult Swim cancel The Missing Notebook Rhymes series". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  17. ^ DeMarco, Jason [@Clarknova1] (31 December 2020). "Flash forward to like a decade later and I hear Doom really wants to work with me again" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 April 2021 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ DeMarco, Jason [@Clarknova1] (31 December 2020). "A) Doom hadn't paid the producers who made these songs or cleared the other vocalists or samples" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 April 2021 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ DeMarco, Jason [@Clarknova1] (31 December 2020). "It was, in short, a total boondoggle" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 April 2021 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Leask, Hugh (19 October 2017). "Deep Fried Cutz: Nine Doom rarities from the untouchable enigma's vaults". Fact. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  21. ^ The Search for the Missing Notebook Rhymes (YouTube). An Absurd Existence. 11 January 2021. Event occurs at 3:26. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  22. ^ Helman, Peter (20 November 2014). "Flying Lotus - "Masquatch" (Feat. Doom)". Stereogum. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  23. ^ WestSide Doom (liner notes). WestSide Gunn; MF Doom. London, England; Buffalo, New York: Daupe!; Griselda Records. 2017. DM-SP-029.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  24. ^ Camp, Zoe (24 November 2015). "PRhyme (Royce Da 5'9" & DJ Premier) Team With Doom and Phonte for "Highs and Lows"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  25. ^ Pearce, Sheldon (14 January 2016). "The Return of the Dragon (The Abstract Went on Vacation)". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  26. ^ Breihan, Tom (18 March 2009). "Ghostface Killah / Doom "Chinatown Wars"". Pitchfork. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  27. ^ "Czarface & MF Doom – "Nautical Depth"". Stereogum. 8 February 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  28. ^ Darville, Jordan (22 January 2018). "Dabrye and Doom assert their dominion on "Lil Mufukuz"". The Fader. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
[edit]
  • Doom's SoundCloud page with the eight songs theorized to have been intended for inclusion on The Missing Notebook Rhymes.
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