Moka Only: "More Soup"

Canada’s Nate Dogg, Moka Only, employs the assistance of MF Doom for “More Soup,” produced by fellow Canadian Sixtoo. The cartoony loop and crisp drums, however, reminisce of Doom’s own production, and the sound of his unmistakable mumbling drawl will undoubtedly give hundreds of backpacker kids both a reason to purchase a Moka Only album and a hard on. It’s easy to picture Moka and Doom situated around an old oak table with a tall bong filled with Vancouver’s finest ganja (Muslims can smoke weed, right? Doom is still a Muslim, right?), flipping through a rhyming dictionary under the entry “soup.” Stoop (id is as stoopid does)? Troop (Beverly Hills)? Whoop (there it is)? Sloop (John B)? Poop? Yeah, let’s go with poop.

It’s difficult to tell when Doom crossed the line from clever, goofy wordsmith to overrated, oversaturated “genius.” His signature bass-baritone that debuted on Fondle ‘Em’s “Dead Bent” (oh, yeah, he was drunk during that -- I guess he’s not a Muslim anymore) has remained unchanged as his output in recent years reached Kool Keith levels (in terms of production and nearly in terms of pseudonyms). It also really can’t help that he just sounds lazy, and listening to Doom for long periods of time causes listeners to enter catatonic, apathetic stases. His voice is not as curious as Cam’ron’s awkward staccato nor engaging as Ghostface’s piercing whine -- I hate to say it -- but it’s just become boring. Of course, this could be chalked up to having the interminable Moka Only take the cleanup verse on this track. God, will Josh Martinez or somebody just kick his hippie ass already? I fell asleep five times, and the song clocks in at 2:12. But maybe that’s just the weed kicking in…Oh, “Snoop”! And Lupe!