Don't Sleep: The Doppelgangaz - Hark - RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture

Welcome to RESPECT.’s latest feature: “Don’t Sleep.” Throughout this series, we plan on introducing you to albums and mixtapes that we may have missed, but still want to write about. This edition’s topic is Hark!, an album released by duo The Doppelgangaz back in March of this year (2013).

If The Doppelgangaz were to be depicted in animated form, the only people capable of rendering properly them would be the folks at Augenblick Studios, the studio behind Superjail! and Ugly Americans. That isn’t an insult. From the content to the production to the raspy delivery, Hark! is a grimy, seedy affair. In the world that Matter Ov Fact and EP describe and create, distortion, depravity and general bizarreness reign supreme: nothing is left uncovered by dust, dirt or muck.

This sounds bleak, but the appeal of this smutty world is how committed The Doppelgangaz are to its absurdity. On the first verse of the album, Matter Ov Fact unflinchingly says, “When he’s not engaged with Fem Dom with his friend’s mom/He’s trying to get this nigga E to drop some ‘n’ bombs.” Right after this he continues rapping; there is no pause or jokey ad-lib or emphasis on the last words to tell you to laugh. This is just a fact of the world, nothing special. This is a feature of Hark! as a whole. On “Oh Well” EP discusses a woman’s response to his phalloplasty; on “Smang Life” Matter Ov Fact hooks up with a woman who has “Roe vs. Wade” tattooed on her back. The examples are endless. But this is more than The Doppelgangaz “just being cool.”

The general atmosphere of Hark! is far from accidental. From the crackly “Skin Yamulke” to the wispy “Sun Shine,” Hark! commits to this sooty universe even in the production. It’s as if the world itself is just as enlivened as its zany inhabitants. The best example is the aptly-named “Barbiturates,” which features a yawning sample that rocks between the winding piano and the softened drums like the pendulum of a hypnotist. The track itself is on barbiturates.

Clocking in at about 38 minutes and containing 3 interludes, Hark! is a bit on the brief side, but it’s worth a listen nonetheless. Though punchline rappers are far from an extinct species, Hark! shows us why their numbers are dwindling. Rapping well (and also being funny while doing it) isn’t about constantly notifying the listener of your skill through “vocal winks” – pauses, ad-libs, emphasis on the last word, etc. Rather, it’s about having the confidence to rap well and have faith in the listeners’ ability to acknowledge your skill. This is what The Doppelgangaz bring to the table. Their dizzying internal rhymes and multisyllabic rhyme patterns don’t need to be capitalized or highlighted; they’re perfectly legible as is. In the end, even though the title basically means “Listen!” it’s more of a declaration than a command. EP and Matter Ov Fact don’t demand our attention: they deserve it. Don’t sleep.