Kool Keith

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Kool Keith
Birth name	Keith Matthew Thornton
Also known as	Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, Mr. Nogatco
Born	1964
Origin	The Bronx, New York
Genre(s)	Hip-hop
Occupation(s)	MC, Producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Rapping, Keyboards, Bass
Years active	1984 - Present
Associated acts	Esham Ultramagnetic MC's Analog Brothers Ultra Cenobites Masters of Illusion Thee Undatakerz Clayborne Family
Website	KoolKeith.Co.UK

Keith Matthew Thornton (born c. 1964), better known as Kool Keith, is an American hip hop artist and record producer.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

An original member of New York's new school pioneers the Ultramagnetic MCs, Thornton is best known as a solo rapper. His stylistically innovative style is stream-of-consciousness lyrical flow and complex vocals, two skills that earn him a perennial nod from the underground hip-hop community. The average Kool Keith album is peppered with bizarre, disjointed, and disassociated themes, concepts, and references. Nearly all of his albums incorporate a satirical dislike for more commercialized strains of hip-hop, as well as major record labels.

Thornton's early career and lyrics with the Ultramagnetic MCs often referenced his time as a patient of Bellevue, a psychiatric hospital, where he was treated for depression. He later claimed this was an inside joke. With Ultramagnetic, his abstract style developed, maturing in songs like "Poppa Large." He was the first rapper to create multiple aliases for himself. Keith attempted to go solo at least twice in 1990 and 1992, the latter hiatus affording Keith the time to record several tracks later featured on Cenobites LP. After Ultramagnetic broke up in 1994, he moved to California and landed a deal with Capitol Records for a solo album. After changes at the label left the project unreleased, Thornton released the Big Willie Smith EP in 1995. Production duties were split between Kutmasta Kurt and Ultramagnetic's TR Love and Moe Luv. Around this time, Kutmasta Kurt also produced tracks featuring Keith's new alias, Dr. Octagon. Another Bay Area producer, Dan "the Automator" Nakamura, then a friend of Kurt, took over the majority of the production for what became Dr. Octagonecologyst, which was released by the English trip hop label Mo' Wax. DJ Qbert was also a major contributor to the album's sound, employing scratch techniques previously unheard on a rap album. The album received critical acclaim, including from media sources outside the mainstream hip-hop community. The critical success of the album helped to open the accessibility of the underground hip hop scene to an appreciative audience. The album is considered a landmark in the acid rap genre. For the Automator, this album laid the foundation for a burgeoning career and accolades as a producer; for Thornton, the success of Octagonecologyst seemed to put him in danger of being typecast as a "Space and Mars" rapper, or the type of industry tool which he has looked down upon throughout his career. Instrumentalyst, showcasing the production, became a surprise success.

[edit] 1990s

In 1996, Keith revealed in an interview that he was working on the next Dr. Octagon album. Tracks were also recorded with Automator under the Big Willie Smith moniker which were not released until Automator's 2000 A Much Better Tomorrow LP. Eventually the Big Willie Smith alias was changed to Willie Biggs, possibly as a reaction to Will Smith's Big Willie Style album, and this is the moniker used on Keith's first true solo release, 1997's Sex Style, although a few references to Smith remain.

Thornton released an album with Tim Dog in 1997 under the name "Ultra." This album was also mostly produced by Kutmasta Kurt, and introduced Thornton's Reverend Tom alias. Also in 1997, he appeared on the track "Diesel Power" from The Prodigy's album The Fat of the Land. He is credited in the liner notes as Kool Keith.

Frustrated with Automator's control and disrespect in regards to the project and limits of his new image, Thornton abandoned the "Octagon" character, who was literally killed off in the introduction to his next album, First Come, First Served, by his new persona, Dr. Dooom. This album focused on his "Horrorcore" material, which first appeared on the Cenobites LP. He released an instrumental version of this and other post-Octagon albums.

Released soon after the independent First Come First Served was the major-label effort Black Elvis/Lost in Space, (they were intended to be released simultaneously) which featured Thornton finding yet another persona in "Black Elvis". While the Dr. Dooom record was produced with the minimalist beats and production work of Kutmasta Kurt, Lost In Space featured less profanity and deeper, multi-layered tracks Thornton developed with a host of collaborators. The dichotomy effectively split the Dr. Octagon character in two, Dooom representing the horror elements and Black Elvis handling sci-fi duties. In the liner notes to the Black Elvis album, released by Columbia/Ruff House, he even calls out his "twin brother" Dr. Dooom, saying "you need to get with a major, buddy."

Thornton played Crazy Lou, a gun dealer and former Marine who was, "dishonorably discharged for sexual misconduct with a deadly weapon," in Prince Paul's 1999 "hip-hopera" A Prince Amongst Thieves.

[edit] 2000s

In 2000, Thornton released Matthew, which included "Test Press," a rant concerning the intricacies of his Columbia deal and their lack of promotion for Black Elvis/Lost In Space. He produced the entire album, except for "Test Press" and "Backstage Passes", which were done by Kutmasta Kurt, who also provided additional drums programming on other songs.

Teaming up with Detroit's Esham, Thornton released Spankmaster in 2001. With Esham and Thornton handling production, it was the first Kool Keith album with no involvement by Kutmasta Kurt, who had reportedly turned down an offer to produce it.^{[citation needed]} It was met with indifference by critics and fans alike, many complaining about its low budget sound and recycled themes.

Subsequent collaborations have included Masters of Illusion, Clayborne Family, the Analog Brothers and Thee Undatakerz, who have collaborated with members of the Wu Tang Clan to produce the soundtrack to Blade: Trinity. Thornton later disowned the Undatakerz project. He also appeared with Ol' Dirty Bastard on the compilation album WWF Aggression, on a song featured as a tribute to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar Mankind. He is also a well-known favorite of Princess Superstar, and has collaborated with her on several tracks.

Thornton and Kutmasta Kurt then revived their "Diesel Truckers" aliases, first used on the Dr. Dooom album, for a fairly well received 2004 LP, their first to be released as a "Kool Keith Featuring Kutmasta Kurt" album. In early 2006, Thornton contributed to "Getaway", a track for former Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton's Peeping Tom album (released June 30, 2006).

The Dr. Octagon character was resurrected in 2006, engendering some confusion and controversy. Apprarently, in 2002 Thornton briefly considered releasing another Dr. Octagon album and hastily tried to secure a record deal for it. Allegedly friends went through a phone book of record labels from A-Z, sending off offer faxes to find a buyer. When they got to C, namely 'CMH', they received and accepted an offer, and the album was commissioned. Thornton then collaborated with guitarist/producer Fanatik J. However, upon Kool Keiths directive Fanatik-J refused use of his recordings and the project was temporarily shelved. A production team by the name of One Watt Sun, made up of two Australians and one American, remixed one of the vocal accapellas recorded during the Fanatik J sessions, and the result was the track "Perfect World". Impressed CMH gave One Watt Sun the Job of remaking the album. They used a mix of vocals recorded during these original sessions with Fanatik J, along with three songs recorded later with Thornton. The album has a strong futuristic dance edge to it, out of step with the more organic production of the first album. Thornton has gone on to say "This ain't the record I did, It was totally new music. I was really pissed off about people wanting me to go out and tour and do these songs."^[1]. Kool Keith hadn't performed any versions of the songs while on tour until 2007, when he performed remixed versions. Amazingly, Keith doesn't hate the OCD album but feels it may damage his musical reputation. Apparently Thornton has yet to be paid for duties according to www.eastbayexpress.com. In December of 2008 Fanatik-J and copyright attorney Ray Shahani filed a million dollar lawsuit in Federal District Court (San Francisco) against CMH/OCD/Vitamin Records alleging Copyright Violations, RICO violations (Racketeering, Influence, and Corrupt Organizations ACT-this act was created in the 1970's to target the New York Mafia)Conversion, Unfair Competition and Slander.

Two other 2006 LPs were somewhat overshadowed by the Dr. Octagon fiasco, released under the Project Polaroid and Mr. Nogatco monikers. These albums, particularly Project Polaroid, ironically sounded far closer to the original Dr. Octagon album than its alleged sequel. Both albums also featured a sci-fi theme.

In spring 2007 it was announced by Threshold Recordings that a sequel to the 1999 Dr. Dooom album was being recorded, in addition to a collection of vintage Sex Style outtakes. Also, an album under the alias Tashan Dorrsett is set to be released on DJ Junkaz Lou's Junkadelic Music label in late 2007.

Ultramagnetic MC's released their first new studio album since 1993, The Best Kept Secret, on January, 9, 2007 on Oglio Records. Critical response was muted and the album had lackluster sales.

On November 6th, 2007 KutMasta Kurt Presents-Kool Keith Sex Style Un-Released Archives 1994-95 was released on Threshold Recordings as a limited edition of 2500 serialized Digi-Pack Cd's, which included a lyric sheet. The album was praised by critics and fans as a worthy counterpart to the Sex Style album. It was also released as a double vinyl edition which is limited to only 600 copies worldwide, individually numbered and signed by Kutmaster Kurt.