Friday night Minneapolis-based hip-hop crew Doomtree rolls in to Madtown for a free show at The Sett. The show is one of five stops on the second leg of their No Kings tour, before this group heads to SXSW next week.
Doomtree, which released its first self-titled album in 2008, is comprised of seven members; emcees Dessa, Mike Mictlan, P.O.S., Cecil Otter and Sims, as well as producers Paper Tiger and Lazerbeak. The members of Doomtree function as a sort of rap and hip-hop collective; each member has worked on solo projects or collaborated on side projects in addition to their work as a group. No Kings is the group’s first completely collaborative release.
“This is the first time where we all sort of wrote the record together as opposed to people bringing their songs in and then asking someone to write a verse for their song,” said Lazerbeak.
Many of the songs from No Kings feature all five rappers, which Lazerbeak said has made performing on the tour more fun, since everyone is on stage together.
“It’s a party, basically,” he said. “ Everyone’s having fun and everyone contributes their own unique personality to that within and outside of the music itself.”
The Doomtree members have known each other for quite some time, which Lazerbeak credited for their ability to work so well together.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to know each other for over 10 years now, and have been making music for over 10 years together, so everyone’s gotten really comfortable in their own style and in the way they make their music,” he said. “Once we get on stage it just really clicks.”
In order to write No Kings, the members of Doomtree exiled themselves to a cabin the middle of Wisconsin for five days in the summer. They had a deadlline approaching, and they knew the only way to write the album was to go away somewhere together.
“We had made a lot of the beats already so we kinda just went up there and looped beats, and rappers would kinda pace around the kitchen table and write songs together, and then at night we would demo,” Lazerbeak said. “10 out of the 12 songs that are on No Kings were created in that environment and then we brought them back and polished them up.”
It was an approach Doomtree had never attempted before, but Lazerbeak said he believes it worked really well for the group in the end.
“I don’t know how it would work if we tried it again, but miraculously, somehow, we could have come home with nothing but we ended up coming home with a finished record, basically,” he said.
Lazerbeak’s personal favorite track of the new album is “Team The Best Team,” partly because it has everybody on it.
“When played live it’s become probably one of the more powerful moments onstage during the set,” he said. “[It] has kind of a triumphant vibe that I really like.”
Those attending the show can look forward to seeing “Team The Best Team” and most likely, stage diving by Doomtree’s members. Lazerbeak said some of his favorite moments on tour have been watching his crewmates crowd surfing.
“From my perspective I’ll be hitting some drum pads and all of a sudden I’ll look up and there’s Dessa in the middle of the crowd being lifted up by everyone,” he recollected. “I may attempt it myself on this leg of the tour…I think I’m the only one in the crew that hasn’t done it now at this point.”
Lazerbeak, echoing a sentiment others in Doomtree share, said he loves touring but really enjoys coming back to the Midwest to perform.
“It always just feels like home so its nice to be around; to be around your people I guess,” he said.
With Doomtree performing in familiar turf and no admission price to bar you from coming, this is a WUD Music offering you should not miss. And with Lazerbeak and Paper Tiger spinning the afterparty at DMF, the fun will continue well after the show ends.
