Full Clip: Daveed Diggs' Favourite Albums

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

10. Boom Bip, DoeseoneCircle

That album’s so weird, so out-there. And Doseone’s another rapper who, when I discovered them, I didn’t know you could do that, you know, post-modern poetry over beats. His sense of rhythm is like incredible. It doesn’t feel like slam poetry, like talking with music behind it – these are rap songs. But it’s hyper-personal, with descriptive language, and repeated phrases that change slightly over time, and cadences that come in and out in a really unexpected way. And Boom Bip’s production draws on found sound and field recording stuff, which we use a lot, also. The rap songs are so in the pocket, and the out-there stuff is so out-there, it creates this really sprawling experience. The best way to listen to it is straight-through, because the journey is crazy. It makes you really aware of what’s possible. People sometimes get really reductive about what rap music can and can’t do, and sometimes I need reminders, like this album, that actually, rap is good at everything, and you’re the problem. The genre can do whatever you want it to.

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