"A great US Hip-Hop singer pays tribute to Daniel Dumile, better known as MF DOOM, an other[worldly] Hip-Hop artist, from the New York City underground scene. But who's behind the mask?" French Télévision network Culturebox wrote along with a series of seven cryptic YouTube videos quietly uploaded between December-February of last year. The mysterious masked wordsmith is eventually revealed to be Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, who's likely the only person on planet Earth who can honestly say he's worked alongside Mark Wahlberg, Donald Sutherland, Jack Black, and MF DOOM. Culturebox's BEYONDOOM EP-length playlist isn't exactly the first time Mos Def has expressed his fanboy-like admiration for DOOM; a few years ago, he went as far as to "bet a million dollars on DOOM against Lil' Wayne" in a battle rap scenario, supposedly masqueraded as the Metal-Faced Villain after he cancelled a series of appearances initially billed as joint concerts, in addition to a number of other viral displays of mutual admiration.


BEYONDOOM is however, Yasiin Bey's first quasi-release since unveiling his short-lived G.O.O.D. Music-backed Top 40 Underdogs freestyle series (2012). MADVILLAINY era DOOM fan favorites "Beef Rapp," "Accordion," "Strange Ways," "Curls," "ALL CAPS," "Rainbows/Fancy Clown/Fazers," and "Mayo Clinic" produced by J Dilla ( Oh No's "Move, Part 2" beat) are all contained within Culturebox's BEYONDOOM EP playlist; the bulk of which, most notably "Accordion," he's been performing live since around 2009-10. It's pretty amazing something this awesome has remained largely unseen since February or as okayplayer blatantly put it: "How does something like this stay so damn hush for so long? Oh, you say the rap blogosphere would implode if it ever made its way across the pond?" While there are currently no signs of a new DOOM album or Yasiin Bey's seemingly shelved Mannie Fresh-produced OMFGODBKNOLA project, BEYONDOOM EP although, is available for download with a little bit of digi-diggin'.