Father MC's Doe

Last month, I mentioned a Father MC record I'd been searching for for some time. I've actually been searching for it for YEARS; and it's proven to be absolutely the hardest Father MC record to find (much harder, say, than his 12" with The First Fleet Crew, before he became famous), and one of the hardest records for me to find, period. You wouldn't think so - a 1999 12" with no unique songs or mixes from an easy-to-find album (No Secrets) on a relatively established indie label. But for whatever reason, it took me several years, and there were times I doubted it actually existed. It's still the only Father MC record not on discogs - they even added that obscure test pressing on Luke Records. Anyway, I finally got it (from a webstore in Japan) and can confirm it exists: "We Got Doe" by Father MC on Street Solid Records.

Perhaps the key reason Father MC's later records are so genuinely enjoyable is that he's not afraid to use the classics. Whatever you think about his MCing, his image, whatever else... you can't hate on a record that takes a great, tried and true break and lets it breathe. And while Father doesn't do that on all of his songs, you can be confident he'll do it at least several times of all of his albums, so good times are ensured.

That's certainly the case here. "We Got Doe," co-produced by Father and someone named Richlakes, takes one of the greatest loops in hip-hop's catalog, "Love Is the Message," and bumps it for all it's worth. It certainly doesn't break any new ground - how many times have we used this same sample used in the exact same way? - but that doesn't make it sound any less good. And, like every hip-hop song to use the song, it's still a huge upgrade on the corny vocals of the original MFSB record.

"We Got Doe" features a guest MC named Cat Eyes, who also appears on three other songs on the album... I think they might've been dating at the time. She used to have some pretty choice words for him on her myspace, but she's since cleaned that up. She now goes by the name Jayne Bond 009, and she's actually just dropped an album through Def Jam.

This 12" just has the Clean Radio Mix on the one side and the Club Mix on the flip. In this case, the Club Mix is the same as the album version, so the only difference is a few snipped curse words in Father's second verse. It's fun to note, however, that this 12" is mislabeled, and the Club Mix is on the side labeled Clean Radio Mix, and vice versa.

Lyrically, it's pretty generic. Cat Eyes neither helps nor hurts matters, as they both just spit pretty standard verses about how they've gone platinum on this album (a little 'cart before the horse,' but hey, what rapper hasn't done this?) and how they're super rich and have a lot of stuff. But their flow is fine and they sound alright... the whole track has a lot of energy - thanks to some spastic cutting on the chorus - so it's fun. Sure, other MCs have done it better; it's hard to make a case for this against Cappadonna and Raekwon's "Love Is the Message" or even "Hollywood's Message." But if there's room in your collection for more than one of these, than this one deserves a place. Maybe you'd like to blend 'em all together into one giant monster jam.

Of course, you'll never find it... or maybe I was just strangely unlucky.