"Why spend X-mas Eve waiting for some extra-fat white dude to come bursting through the ceiling... when you can spend X-mas Eve with yours truly, The Super-Villain, DOOM!!? HO, HO, HO!" DOOM himself proclaims within the opening bars of "Xmas with DOOM (Intro)." It appears as though the holiday greeting stems from [adult swim]'s 2006 Christmas with DOOM holiday special, which was used to help promote either Danger Mouse & MF DOOM AKA DANGERMOUSE's THE MOUSE & THE MASK or its follow-up, Occult Hymn EP. DOOM's jolly refrain has now been re-purposed as part of Spanish beat-maker and producer Cookin' Soul's latest creation, DOOM XMAS (MF DOOM Remixes) a collection of re-works of The Metal Face Villain himself. DOOM XMAS serves as a quasi-follow-up to Cookin' Soul's like-minded 2012 Ready for Xmas (Biggie Remixes.) Earlier this year, DOOM reunited with "Ka-Bang!" collaborators DJ 7L, Esoteric & Inspectah Deck for a full-length album entitled CZARFACE Meets Metal Face, as menacingly produced and arranged by The Czar-Keys. However, in recent years, DOOM's earliest material has experienced something of a resurgence, being remixed and tastefully re-interpreted by artists such as Abstract Orchestra, ayyy__donkey, Gorilla Glock, MURS, Old City, Seanh, Spute Ardell, and Yasiin Bey FKA The Mighty Mos Def.


After a number of repeat listens and a bit of digital sleuthing—major shout-out to Genius!—we figured out the majority of the DOOM acapellas Cookin' Soul used: WESTSIDEDOOM's "2STRINGS" & "Gorilla Monsoon," J Dilla-produced "Gazzillion Ear," "Untitled" AKA "Change The Beat" & "Raedawn" from Viktor Vaughn's Vaudeville Villain, "My Favorite Ladies," and De La Soul's "Rock Co.Kane Flow" from The Grind Date. Now, on the not-so-villainous side of things, it appears as though Cookin' Soul sampled a slew of holiday favorites, including: [adult swim]'s aforementioned Christmas with DOOM special, 1966 TV special How The Grinch Stole Christmas! Nat King Cole's "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire," A Charlie Brown Christmas, Paul McCartney & Wings' "Wonderful Christmastime," Vaughn Monroe's "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and Marvin Gaye & The Funk Brothers' "I Want to Come Home for Christmas," amongst other seasonal stand-outs. For anyone looking for that last-minute present for your favorite Hip-Hop head, DOOM XMAS (MF DOOM Remixes) is now available to purchase or stream on Bandcamp. Plus, an extremely limited edition vinyl version of DOOM XMAS is currently available from QRATES, as well!

"Just some remixes I made with DOOM acapellas over some new beats I created to fit the raps. I made the beats by sampling and chopping X-mas tunes... I love DOOM and I love X-mas, too and X-mas music. I always loved it since Home Alone dropped back when I was a kid... [Christmas] is my favorite time of the year I already did a Biggie X-mas tape, also, that was very successful some years back, so I decided to get back to it with a different twist. I always liked the 1966 Grinch, also, so I started with that tune and built from there. I see The Grinch as the first Quasimoto-style character; a cartoon, but still filthy and raw haha!"

- Cookin' Soul (@CookinSoul)