Czarface & MF DOOM - Super What?

Super What? was finished before MF DOOM died and released a few months after, which gives a record built entirely out of jokes and comic-book references an unavoidable second layer. It is the sequel to Czarface Meets Metal Face, it is ten tracks long, and it moves like a group that had nothing left to prove to each other.

The Czar-Keys production is warmer and looser here than on the first collaboration, with more soul samples and fewer air-raid sirens. "The King and Eye" opens the album with DMC of Run-DMC on the hook, an unlikely pairing that works immediately. "Jason & The Czargonauts" brings in Del the Funky Homosapien for the record's best three-way exchange. "DOOM Unto Others" is the closest thing to a mission statement, and "Break In The Action" gives Inspectah Deck room to remind you why his voice cut through nine other rappers on 36 Chambers.

Esoteric's punchlines stay dense and DOOM's verses arrive at their own unhurried angle, circling the beat rather than riding it. Nothing here reaches for profundity, which is exactly why it holds up: this is two acts making each other laugh on tape.

Standard black vinyl issue on Silver Age, pressed at Nashville Record Productions with Lamour Supreme cover art. The last chapter of a great partnership.