Why is Viktor Vaughn’s Vaudeville Villain on my best 1,000 albums ever list?
Whatever he chooses to call himself, MF Doom… er, Viktor Vaughn is a hip hop genius.
What does Viktor Vaughn’s Vaudeville Villain mean to me? What does it make me feel? Why is it exciting or compelling?
The entirety of Vaudeville Villain flows insanely well, though take note: some R-rated material lies within. The self-titled track opens with tremendous energy and power, and could almost serve as the perfect theme song for a movie (called Vaudeville Villain, I’d imagine?).
“Lickupon” might be my favorite song on the album, with its almost hypnotic hip hop flow and exceptional production.
And what can I say, I’m a sucker for a hip hop song that drops a Fuddruckers reference. (And let’s see how fast you can guess what it rhymes with!)
The range that Vaudeville Villain shows off is pretty astonishing as well. For example, “Can I Watch?” might be the best hip hop “duet” I’ve ever heard. Featuring Apani B as the female counterpart to Vaughn, it’s slow, slightly strange, and contains a compelling hip hop groove. And as on everything he produces, Vaughn’s hip hop flow is so clean and distinctive, it puts an extremely high “floor” on everything he does.
This album also sounds like
Staying away from all the other personas that this hip hop artist has used (see more on that below), this album certainly has some similarities with collaborating partners such as Madlib and Danger Mouse. Beyond that, I’ll go with Wu-Tang Clan alumnus Ghostface Killah from a hip hop flow standpoint and J Dilla in terms of the unusual, eclectic, and sample filled production goes.
Pop culture stuff that’s somehow related to Viktor Vaughn’s Vaudeville Villain
It occurs to me that Daniel Dumile, the artist known as Viktor Vaughn on this album but is mostly wide known as MF Doom, is one of the great chameleons of music history. When you consider his output as Viktor Vaughn, MF Doom (multiple great albums), Madvillain (Madvillainy) in collaboration with Madlib, and particularly Danger Doom (The Mouse and the Mask) in collaboration with Danger Mouse, it’s a pretty tremendous collection of music. And then don’t forget about Zev Love X, King Geedorah, Metal Fingers, Doom, Metal Face…
In any event, look out for more of the above on the 1,000 best albums ever list for sure.
I tried to think if there were other artists who were this prolific under the guise of so many different personas, and I didn’t come close to finding a competitor. Some of the Wu-Tang crew (and especially the artist best known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard) liked to mess around in this vein, but Dumile – who sadly passed away in 2020 – is the champ.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.
Some stats & info about Viktor Vaughn – Vaudeville Villain
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? rap, hip hop, underground hip hop, alternative hip hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 of 5 stars
- When was Vaudeville Villain released? 2003
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #991 out of 1,000