The idea of a collaborative album from
Masta Ace and
MF Doom is exciting, interesting, and surprising all at once, and while MA_Doom: Son of Yvonne is all of three of those adjectives, it isn't really a collaboration.
Doom is here for a verse, delivering the great "Think I Am" next to
Masta and hip-hop royalty
Big Daddy Kane, but the rest of the album is built mostly from
Doom's old Special Herbs albums, the instrumental series he released between 2000 and 2005 under the name Metal Fingers (or Metal Fingaz). To top it off, MA_Doom is also a concept album dedicated to
the Masta's late mother, and most of it focuses on the rapper's early life with tracks like "Me and My Gang" and "Home Sweet Home" delivering all the nostalgia and warmth their titles imply. Confusingly, the key track "Da'pro" grabs its beat from a
Nas song and not
Doom's, but like everything on the album, it works. Well worth a
Masta,
Doom, or underground hip-hop head's attention; just don't get hung up on the collaboration bit. ~ David Jeffries