Dr. Octagonecologyst (1996)

Dr. Octagonecologyst is the debut solo album by the American rapper and Ultramagnetic MCs member Kool Keith, using the alias Dr. Octagon. It was released through Bulk Recordings in April 1996. A release in the United Kingdom through Mo' Wax followed in May the same year. The album was reissued with a different track listing by DreamWorks Records in 1997. The album was produced by Dan "the Automator" Nakamura and featured the work of turntablist DJ Qbert. KutMasta Kurt provided additional production work. The cover artwork was drawn by Brian "Pushead" Schroeder.

Dr. Octagonecologyst introduces the character of Dr. Octagon, a homicidal, extraterrestrial, time-traveling gynecologist and surgeon. The album's distinctive sound fuses genres such as psychedelic music, trip hop, and electronic music. Thornton's lyrics are often abstract, absurd, and avant-garde, drawing on surrealism, non sequiturs, hallucinatory psychedelia, and themes of horror, science fiction, as well as sexual humor, absurdist/surrealistic humor, and juvenile humor.

Kool Keith's lyrics and Nakamura's production were highly praised, as was DJ Qbert's innovative scratching. The album has been ranked as one of the best hip-hop albums of the 1990s. The character of Dr. Octagon has also appeared in Kool Keith projects like First Come, First Served (1999) and Dr. Dooom 2 (2008), both of which contain tracks in which Octagon is murdered by Dr. Dooom.

Music

Production

Ultramagnetic MCs member Keith "Kool Keith" Thornton was seeking a new project after the release of his group's third album, The Four Horsemen, in 1993. Keith and producer KutMasta Kurt – who were working on a variety of demos together – recorded two songs called "Dr. Octagon" and "Technical Difficulties". Thornton mailed the songs to radio stations as well as giving copies to several DJs and record producer Dan the Automator. This led to Nakamura's role in producing the album. Dr. Octagonecologyst was recorded in Automator's studio in the basement of his parents' San Francisco home.

Dr. Octagonecologyst has been praised for its original sound, which has often been attributed to Nakamura. However, Thornton states that he was largely involved with the production of the album. Thornton is quoted as saying "Automator and Kurt are probably receiving more credit than I did, but I was a big musical person behind Octagon." Nakamura has said he wanted Dr. Octagonecologyst to stand out from other hip-hop albums, citing the music of Eric B. & Rakim, Mantronix, and Run-D.M.C. as influences. Nakamura said, "Hip-hop was always inventive. Then the '90s hit and everyone wants to be Dr. Dre; no one wants to be their own thing anymore. Everyone now wants to have the Lexus and deal pounds of drugs. We don't do that. That's not our lifestyle. You don't see us coming out with the fur coat. There's more to music than that." The album incorporates organic instrumentation and features Moog synthesizer, flute, and string instruments.

Dialogue excerpts from pornographic films appear on multiple tracks. On the Bulk Recordings edition of the album, "halfsharkalligatorhalfman" is preceded by an excerpt from the comedy film Cabin Boy. Lily Moayeri of Rolling Stone called the album a "psychedelic hip-hop concept album." AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey wrote that the album "shed some light on the burgeoning turntablist revival via the scratching fireworks of DJ Q-Bert" and its "futuristic, horror-soundtrack production seemed to bridge the gap between hip-hop and the more electronic-oriented trip-hop". Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews also praised its sound, writing that "Cuts are provided with infinite skill and precision by DJ Q-Bert" and that the DJ Shadow/Automator remix of "Waiting List" is "so good that you could hardly miss the original, if indeed there was one." An instrumental version of the album was released in 1996 under the title Instrumentalyst (Octagon Beats). Kembrew McLeod of AllMusic wrote of the instrumental album, stating "If any other artist released an album such as this it would be considered throwaway trash—something for the hardcore fans. But Dan the Automator's backing tracks are so fresh and original, it's actually nice to just hear the beats minus the rhymes."