NehruvianDoom

NehruvianDoom is the collaborative studio album by American hip hop duo NehruvianDoom which consists of MF Doom and Bishop Nehru. The album was released on October 7, 2014, by Lex Records.

NehruvianDoom
Studio album by NehruvianDoom (MF Doom and Bishop Nehru)
Released	October 7, 2014
Recorded	2013-2014
Genre	Hip hop
Length	31:09
Label	Lex Records
Producer	Madvillain, MF Doom
MF Doom chronology
Key to the Kuffs (2012) NehruvianDoom (2014) Czarface Meets Metal Face (2018)
Bishop Nehru chronology
Brilliant Youth EP (2014) NehruvianDoom (2014) Nehruvia: The Nehruvian EP (2015)

Background

In January 2014, during an interview with The Village Voice, Bishop Nehru spoke about the album, saying: "Well it's titled NehruvianDoom. It's Doom producing the beats and I'm rapping over them, though he's going to be on some of the songs too. We don't have any outside features, it's just me and him."[1] He explained how the album came about, saying: "I met Doom for the first time a couple of months ago when I went to London. It was my first time out there, I opened for him and Ghostface at the 100 Club and I just happened to run into him after the show and we met like that and we kicked it and talked like that."[1] In a March 2014, interview with XXL, Bishop Nehru elaborated on the album, saying: "It's called Nehruvian Doom, it's going to be about seven songs. There's no way to really explain it. It's just kind of its own little feel, its own little sound. I don't think anything really compares to it."[2] MF Doom added: "As like a compilation of sounds, all of them hold they own weight but as one whole thing, a piece, it's going to be a very informative piece. It's going to be that joint... To me, everything happened organically and it's still going organically, so it's hard to explain it as it's happening. It just is what it is."[2]

Critical response

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	67/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
ABC News	[4]
Consequence of Sound	B[5]
Drowned In Sound	8/10[6]
Exclaim!	9/10[7]
HipHopDX	[8]
Pitchfork Media	5.6/10[9]
Tiny Mix Tapes	[10]
XXL	3/5 (L)[11]

NehruvianDoom received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 67, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 13 reviews.[3] Mark Bozzer of Exclaim! said, "It's great to have Doom back on this release, and it's even better that's he's joined forces with a young emcee in Nehru that shows a hell of a lot of promise on this project. The Metal-Faced Villain and his sidekick Bishop Nehru make quite the dynamic duo, indeed; Batman and Robin ain't got shit on these two."[7] Sam Willis of Drowned In Sound stated, "Throughout NehruvianDoom the production is consistently on point, vocals are sharp and the shining talent of Bishop Nehru is given to us in all its glory. There are lines that exhibit the teenager’s wisdom way beyond his years and a relationship that is as much give as it is take for both parties. It doesn’t seem to me that this is the record to propel Nehru to stardom – Doom still works too much on the peripherals for that – but it is a vital step on the road to widespread notoriety."[6] Nate Patrin of Pitchfork Media was less positive, saying, "This generation-crossing collaboration feels like a record lodged in a sort of chronological rut, one where a young artist fronts an old-sounding record that sounds like it could've been released at any point in his lifetime—and helmed by any number of MCs that could've sounded like him."[9]

Michael Madden of Consequence of Sound said, "It's promising that a kid as talented and hungry as Bishop already has the experience of working with someone with several classics under his belt. And, while NehruvianDoom is solid on its own, he’s still working toward his destination."[5] Henry Mansell of XXL said, "Weighing in at a terse 32 minutes in length, spanning eight tracks plus an introduction, the album is a cohesive and methodical offering yet because of the constrained spin time, neither Bishop Nehru nor MF Doom have the space to flex their creative impulses and push the envelope in their respective spheres. While it’s gratifying to hear the duo stick to their established formulas and not poorly attempting to conform to pop platitudes, NehruvianDoom suffers from monotonous chants (see “Coming For You”) and a simple lack of variety."[11] Andrew Gretchko of HipHopDX stated, "In just nine tracks, the duo have created a brief, quirky and dense project. It is an album that’s experimental in almost all the right ways, filled with well-crafted, albeit ominous beats mined from obscure source material and features an impressive one two punch on the mic. NehruvianDoom isn’t the first attempt to recreate Golden Age Hip Hop in the 21st century, but it’s an exceptionally creative take on the now-classic sound that succeeds in offering an enjoyable -- and at times quirky -- listen."[8]

In December 2014, Nehruviandoom featured widely in Album of the Year and Rap Album of the Year lists, including: #2 in The Village Voice,[12] #8 in The Independent,[13] #13 in Spin,[14] #23 in Rolling Stone,[15] #29 ABC News,[16] #94 in Crack Magazine.[17]

Track listing

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro"	MF Doom	1:48
2.	"Om"	MF Doom	3:01
3.	"Mean the Most"	MF Doom	4:54
4.	"So Alone"	MF Doom	2:37
5.	"Darkness (HBU)"	MF Doom	2:49
6.	"Coming For You"	MF Doom	4:16
7.	"Caskets"	MF Doom	4:51
8.	"Great Things"	MF Doom	3:50
9.	"Disastrous"	Madvillain	3:03

iTunes bonus track

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
10.	"They Say Bishy Bish"	Bishop Nehru	4:40

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[18]	59
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[19]	4
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[20]	10
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[21]	11
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[22]	17

References

1. "Bishop Nehru Reveals Details Of His Collaborative Album With MF DOOM". Sound of the City. 13 January 2014. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
2. "Bishop Nehru & MF DOOM Describe Working Together On "NehruvianDOOM"". HipHopDX. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
3. "Reviews for Nehruviandoom by Nehruviandoom - Metacritic". Retrieved 6 October 2014.
4. "ABC News Record Release Rundown". Retrieved 11 October 2014.
5. "NehruvianDOOM – NehruvianDOOM - Album Reviews - Consequence of Sound". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
6. "Album Review: NehruvianDOOM - NehruvianDOOM". DrownedInSound. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
7. "Bishop Nehru and DOOM". Exclaim!. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
8. "Bishop Nehru & MF DOOM NehruvianDOOM". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on 21 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
9. "NehruvianDOOM". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
10. "NehruvianDOOM - NehruvianDOOM - Music Review - Tiny Mix Tapes". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
11. "Bishop Nehru And MF Doom Tap Into Their Strengths On 'NehruvianDOOM'". XXL. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
12. "The 10 Best New York City Rap Albums of 2014". 16 December 2014.
13. "The best US hip-hop releases of 2014: From Run The Jewels to Ghostface Killah". 31 December 2014.
14. "40 Best Hip Hop Albums 2014". 12 December 2014.
15. "40 Best Rap Albums of 2014". 23 December 2014.
16. "The Year in Review: The 50 Best Albums of 2014". 22 December 2014.
17. "Albums of the Year 2014". 21 November 2014.
18. "NehruvianDOOM Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
19. "NehruvianDOOM Chart History (Top Rap Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
20. "NehruvianDOOM Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
21. "NehruvianDOOM Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
22. "NehruvianDOOM Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 23, 2014.