Even in the mid-1990s, Keith was no stranger to creating alter-egos, as he had started to refer to himself as “Rhythm X” on the second Ultramagnetic album, Funk Your Head Up (1992). He became increasingly comfortable associating himself with weird and vaguely disturbing imagery. The video for “Poppa Large” featured him rapping in an abandoned building while constrained in a straitjacket, even with a birdcage over his head. His verses and solo cuts on The Four Horsemen were also increasingly bizarre.
It wasn’t until Keith started his solo career that things started to get really weird. The Bronx-born emcee decided to lean into his affinity for grim and oddly titillating subject matter, often coupled with sci-fi sensibilities. These proclivities eventually led him to link up with Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and Richard “DJ Q-Bert” Quitevis and record with them under the alias Dr. Octagon. With their debut project, Dr. Octagonecologyst (originally released as Dr. Octagon), unveiled 30 years ago, they set hip-hop on its ear with one of the most singularly strange and overall dopest albums ever conceived.
Keith introduced the Dr. Octagon character on “Smoking Dust,” which appeared on Ultramagnetic MCs’ Basement Tapes (1994), a collection of the group’s unreleased material. It is appropriately odd and was apparently recorded during the Four Horsemen sessions. If you listen to it, you can hear Keith still shaping the character with his verses.
The first Dr. Octagon-branded songs were actually produced by Kutmasta Kurt. The two were recording songs together after the completion of Four Horsemen and put together “Dr. Octagon” and “Technical Difficulties.” The story goes that Keith began sending copies of the songs to radio stations and DJs across the country, and they found their way into the hands of Dan The Automator. Automator took an interest, which led to him collaborating with Keith. They recorded the project in a relatively short amount of time in Automator’s studio, bringing in DJ Q-Bert to lay down the scratches.
They first released the eponymous album through Automator’s Bulk Recordings. After the effort earned independent success, DreamWorks negotiated a deal to reissue the album (when the famed filmed studio first launched, it had a subsidiary record label as well), re-releasing it as Dr. Octagonecologyst about a year later. The reissue featured a few new songs/remixes in place of a few entries and a slightly reordered tracklist. I was first exposed to the Bulk Recordings incarnation of the project, so I’m in essence paying tribute to that version here.