Kool Keith is a little bionic, at least on the inside. He dreams of interplanetary adventures, supersonic time travel, and juicy brown booties. He’s equal parts Dr. Octagon, Dr. Dooom, and the Ultraman himself, all personas released via past records, and it’s a wonder he can find himself amidst his many on-stage personalities. The only possible explanation is that he is no longer human, and with the way he churns out records, it’s highly probable that’s the case.
This prolific, albeit eccentric rapper, is an OG. He cofounded the legendary rap group Ultramagnetic MCs in the 1980s and has since been flipping records like most people demolish a bag of Cheez-its. Keith is currently on tour supporting his 19th studio album, Time? Astonishing!, which dropped earlier in 2015 via Mello Music Group. Two days before Halloween the MC brought his live show to the Middle East Nightclub in Cambridge Mass.
A slew of local and semi-local rappers hit the stage for 15-minute sets prior to Kool Keith’s headlining performance. Relatively lazy scratching via DJ Slipwax held up the crowd in between sets, which was pitifully thin for a Kool Keith Halloween party. Luckily, by the time the Ultraman was ready to come on stage, the crowd had more than doubled. He sent out his hype man first, and after three songs the crowd began to get restless. When they were asked if they were ready for Kool Keith, they erupted with a cheer that was three times louder than they were in size.
Keith sauntered onto the dusty basement stage in a puffy winter jacket, his backpack on and luggage in tow. Neon green sunglasses hid his eyes, and a sequenced scarf tied around his head sparkled under the blue, green, and red stage lights. He immediately launched into his verse from ”Two Brothers with Checks” off of Ultramagnetic MCs ’94 release The Four Horseman. The majority of the show featured the rapper kicking short verses from his endless stack of tracks, rolling one song right into the next. This kept the set moving at a fast and exciting pace, but resulted in some odd song-to-song transitions coming from the decks. You may think you’re walking down Hollywood Boulevard as Mr. Gerbik, Dr. Octagon’s 208 year old Uncle who is half-shark and half-man, with skin like an alligator, carrying a dead walrus, but a moment later you’re being tele-transported to a stage somewhere in the distant past where Kool Keith is getting a blow job from Madonna and talking about peeing on people.
During his performance, Keith moved back and forth across the stage with a chill but present vibe, oftentimes leaning in towards the crowd with one foot on the monitor, hands winding toward the crowd. The MC kicked tracks from both Dr. Dooom records, including “I Followed You”, “Take That Ride”, “God of Rap”, and “Always Talkin’ Out Your Ass”. Dr. Octagon came out to play, too, dropping verses from “Earth People” and “Girl Let Me Touch You There”, where the rapper invited a band of girls onstage to dance, encouraging them to take their clothes off. To most people’s surprise, some of them did. Classic Kool Keith from a span of albums made an appearance as well, with verses from “Sex Styles”, Livin’ Astro”, “Girls Want You”, and “Extravagant Traveler” drifting out over the crowds.
Although he leaned a little heavy on his backing vocals, Kool Keith is close to 50 years old and he’s been making albums and touring the world for almost three decades. Unlike some MCs Keith hasn’t tried to turn his persona into the grown-up version of his former self, nor has he tried to go pop. He has simply aged into his insanity, stayed underground, and continued to bring his brand of juvenile eccentricity to both the stage and the studio. Amidst the monotony of today’s increasingly commercialized hip-hop world, that’s something worth rooting for.
