Kurious
Majician
Metalface/Rhymesayers
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Four years after his death, the legacy of Daniel “MF DOOM” Dumile still looms large. It’s also fiercely protected by those closest to him, including his widow Jasmine Dumile. It’s not really a shock that in the time since DOOM’s tragic passing, the album that has best honored his impact was recorded by another who knew him best, namely Jorge Antonio Alvarez a.k.a. Kurious Jorge. His latest album Majician is a fitting tribute to the Metal-Faced Villain and an authoritative artistic statement from the New York City bred emcee.
Majician is the initial release on Metalface Records, a collaborative imprint between Jasmine Dumile and Rhymesayers Entertainment. DOOM released his MM.. Food (2004) project through Rhymesayers, so there’s some established history. Kurious makes sense as the initial artist to record new material for the imprint. He knew DOOM for decades, first meeting him through 3rd Bass in the late 1980s while he worked as an intern at Def Jam Records, when the artist formerly known as Zev Love X was a member of KMD. The pair became very good friends, hanging out and often collaborating throughout the years.
Kurious’ debut LP A Constipated Monkey (1994) was a solid inaugural effort, but the emcee has followed it up with scant material in the decades since. His sophomore full-length II (2009) was decent enough, while Monkeyman (2023), his recent collaboration with the UK-based Cut Beetlez production crew, was quietly one of last year’s better releases. Kurious outdoes himself on Majician, helming what’s probably the best album of his career.
Mono En Stereo turns out to be the ideal partner to create the soundscape for Majician. The New York-based producer has been putting in work since the mid ’00s, under numerous monikers, including DJ R-Thentic. He began to hit his stride is the mid ’10s, producing the entirety of Your Old Droog’s self-titled debut Your Old Droog (2014), as well as the majority of Transportation (2019), one of the best albums in Droog’s catalogue. He’s also frequently worked with Homeboy Sandman, including working behind the boards for all of Dusty (2018).
A commonality through much of Mono En Stereo’s best work is his ability to find fittingly dusty, soulful loops, injecting them with just the right amount of grit. In an interview with Vulture, Kurious explains that he was drawn to the producer’s “raw, stripped-down” style, saying that it fit well with his own “raw, stripped-down” rhyming technique.
This is Kurious’ second collaboration with Mono En Stereo this year. Over the summer, they dropped the Scooby-Doo themed Mystery. That album was good, but Majician is even better. Even though Mystery is technically a “mixtape,” Majician’s edges are rougher, which serves the project well. It honors DOOM by paying tribute to his approach to music.
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Majician had been in the works for a while; some songs were recorded over a decade ago. DOOM was involved in the recording process for much of the time. He’s listed as the album’s executive producer, and Kurious has said that he served as its guiding force. After the Metal Faced Villain found himself unable to re-enter the United States, he took up residence in multiple foreign countries, including England and Grenada in the Caribbean. During DOOM’s “exile” from the U.S., Kurious would journey to visit him wherever he was living at the time.
In numerous interviews, Kurious has said that he played “Unknown Species” for DOOM in 2016 when he visited him in Grenada for the second time. DOOM loved what he heard and encouraged Kurious to stay on that same musical path. He added that the songs that appear on Majician were the ones that received DOOM’s approval. Kurious finished recording the album by 2020, shortly before DOOM’s death. He maintains a spectral presence on Majician; his voice appears on one of the album’s interludes.
Tracks like the aforementioned “Unknown Species” and “Cow’s Eye” would fit in well on Operation: Doomsday (1999). Kurious delivers lengthy single verses, rocking to slightly left-of-center but still vaguely familiar loops. Tracks like “Separation Anxiety” and “Bacalao Opera” have similar feels, with Kurious supplying winding, stream of consciousness rhymes, touching on a variety of topics, bouncing effortlessly from denouncing gentrification to throwing vaguely subliminal shots at established rappers who disparaged DOOM’s name.
Kurious contributes a lot of thoughtful material to Majician. He pays tribute to the Latinx emcees of the ’80s and ’90s on the Bollywood-inflected funk of “Eye of Horus,” while also recounting the impact his CM Mob crew has had over the years. “1984” provides old school hip-hop electro funk flavor, as Kurious paints a picture of his Upper West Side neighborhood during one of hip-hop culture’s formative years, recounting the scene in detail and explaining how it shaped his life.
With “Untainted,” Kurious considers his own mortality, lamenting the passing of peers like Biz Markie, and pondering his spiritual eternal fate after death when his own time comes. He also wistfully remembers hip-hop’s promise during the golden era, recalling a time when the culture was like “a beautiful angel spreading its wings / Untamed, to salute to the pioneers and kings.”
Kurious details the power of music on the brief “Teach & Forgive,” pairing contemplative raps with shimmering keys and a thumping bassline, as Mono En Stereo incorporates numerous classic drum breaks. “At a loss for words, but drums keep expressing,” he raps. “Analyzing the sums of all the lessons / Just taking life as it comes and all the questions / May never get the answer to one but thanks for the blessings.”
Kurious channels Madvillainy (2004) on “Majical Journey,” contemplating life’s divine purpose over a fuzzy and distorted abstract jazz sample. Meanwhile, “Barry Gibb” dates back to 2013, when he first started working with Mono En Stereo. It’s also in the vein of a DOOM track, with Kurious dropping three verses to some seemingly glossy early ’80s R&B shit. But like DOOM himself, Kurious is able to transform quiet storm-esque songs into top notch head-nod music.
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Kurious mostly holds down Majician by himself, enlisting only a pair of guest emcees. Mister Fantastik makes a hyped return on “Par for the Course.” The mysterious emcee is best known for a pair of appearances on DOOM’s albums, including “Rapp Snitch Knishes” on MM… Food (2004) and “Anti-Matter” on King Geedorah’s Take Me to Your Leader (2003). He’s properly hyped on his first official appearance in 20 years. Homeboy Sandman appears on “Open,” kicking a pair of verses to a jazz fusion sample that also suggests the influence of Madvillainy.
The year 2024 has been filled with lots of great “throwback” albums by talented emcees that first established themselves over three decades ago. Though this album has been completed for a while, Kurious and Mono En Stereo’s shared passion for their craft ensures that it retains its freshness. The pair honor the contributions of an all-time great while adding to their own growing legends. Majician is more salve for the tried-and-true hip-hopper’s soul.
Notable Tracks: “1984” | “Eye of Horus” | “Majical Journey” | “Teach & Forgive” | “Untainted”
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