Allspice
Allspice
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Pimenta
Species:	P. dioica
Binomial name
Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr.

Allspice, also called Jamaica pepper, pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta,^[1] or newspice, is a spice that is the dried unripe fruit ("berries") of Pimenta dioica, a mid-canopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm parts of the world.^[2] The name allspice was coined as early as 1621 by the English, who thought it combined the flavour of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.^[3]

Several unrelated fragrant shrubs are called "Carolina allspice" (Calycanthus floridus), "Japanese allspice" (Chimonanthus praecox) or "wild allspice" (Lindera benzoin). Allspice is also sometimes used to refer to the herb costmary (Tanacetum balsamita).

Preparation/form[link]

Whole allspice berries

Allspice is the dried fruit of the Pimenta dioica plant. The fruit is picked when it is green and unripe and, traditionally, dried in the sun. When dry, the fruits are brown and resemble large brown peppercorns. The whole fruits have a longer shelf life than the powdered product and produce a more aromatic product when freshly ground before use.

Fresh leaves are used where available. They are similar in texture to bay leaves and are thus infused during cooking and then removed before serving. Unlike bay leaves, they lose much flavour when dried and stored, so do not figure in commerce. The leaves and wood are often used for smoking meats where allspice is a local crop. Allspice can also be found in essential oil form.

Uses[link]

Allspice is one of the most important ingredients of Caribbean cuisine. It is used in Caribbean jerk seasoning (the wood is used to smoke jerk in Jamaica, although the spice is a good substitute), in moles, and in pickling; it is also an ingredient in commercial sausage preparations and curry powders. Allspice is also indispensable in Middle Eastern cuisine, particularly in the Levant, where it is used to flavour a variety of stews and meat dishes. In Palestinian cuisine, for example, many main dishes call for allspice as the sole spice added for flavouring. In America, it is used mostly in desserts, but it is also responsible for giving Cincinnati-style chili its distinctive aroma and flavour. Allspice is commonly used in Great Britain, and appears in many dishes, including cakes. Even in many countries where allspice is not very popular in the household, as in Germany, it is used in large amounts by commercial sausage makers. It is a main flavour used in barbecue sauces.^{[citation needed]} In the West Indies, an allspice liqueur called "pimento dram" is produced, and a sweet liqueur called Mirto is made in Sardinia.

Allspice has also been used as a deodorant. Volatile oils found in the plant contain eugenol, a weak antimicrobial agent.^[4]

Cultivation[link]

Pimenta dioica leaves in Goa, India

The allspice tree is classified as an evergreen shrub that reaches a height of between 10 and 18 metres (32 and 60 feet). Allspice can be a small scrubby tree, quite similar to the bay laurel in size and form. It can also be a tall, canopy tree, sometimes grown to provide shade for coffee trees that are planted underneath them. It can be grown outdoors in the tropics and subtropics with normal garden soil and watering. Smaller plants can be killed by frost, although larger plants are more tolerant. It adapts well to container culture and can be kept as a houseplant or in a greenhouse. The plant is dioecious, meaning plants are either male or female and hence male and female plants must be kept in proximity to allow fruits to develop^[5].

To protect the pimenta trade, the plant was guarded against export from Jamaica. Many attempts at growing the pimenta from seeds were reported, but all failed. At one time, the plant was thought to grow nowhere except in Jamaica, where the plant was readily spread by birds. Experiments were then performed using the constituents of bird droppings; however, these were also totally unsuccessful. Eventually, it was realized that passage through the avian gut, either the acidity or the elevated temperature, was essential for germinating the seeds. Today, pimenta is spread by birds in Tonga and Hawaii, where it has become naturalized on Kauaʻi and Maui.^[6]

Western history[link]

Allspice (Pimenta dioica) was encountered by Christopher Columbus on the island of Jamaica during his second voyage to the New World, and named by Dr. Diego Álvarez Chanca. It was introduced into European and Mediterranean cuisines in the 16th century. It continued to be grown primarily in Jamaica, though a few other Central American countries produced allspice in comparatively small quantities.^[5]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pimenta dioica

Wikispecies has information related to: Pimenta dioica

External links[link]

• "Pimenta dioica". Floridata Plant Encyclopedia. http://www.floridata.com/ref/P/pime_dio.cfm. 
• "Pimenta dioica". Plants of Hawaii. Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR). http://www.hear.org/starr/hiplants/images/thumbnails/html/pimenta_dioica.htm. 
• "Allspice". Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages. University Graz. http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Pime_dio.html. 
• "Allspice". Trade Winds Fruit. http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/allspice.htm. 
• "Allspice". The Encyclopedia of Spices. Epicentre.com. http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/allspice.html. 

MF DOOM
MF Doom at the Hultsfred Festival 2011 in Sweden
Background information
Also known as	DOOM, King Geedorah, Metal Face, Metal Fingers, Viktor Vaughn, Zev Love X, Madvillain
Born	(1971-01-09) January 9, 1971 (age 41) London, United Kingdom
Origin	Long Island, New York
Genres	East Coast hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, hip hop producer
Instruments	Vocals, sampler, synthesizer, drum machine, Pro Tools
Years active	1988–1993 1997–present
Labels	Elektra (1988–1993) Sub Verse (1997–2003) Fondle 'Em (1997–2001) Metal Face (1997–present) Big Dada (2003) Naturesounds (2003–present) Rhymesayers (2004) Stones Throw (2004–present) Lex (2005–present)
Associated acts	KMD, Madvillain, Danger Doom, Madlib, MF Grimm, Ghostface Killah, J Dilla, Count Bass D, Aesop Rock, Jneiro Jarel, Gorillaz, Masta Ace, De La Soul
Website	Official website

Daniel Dumile (pronounced /ˈduːmɨleɪ/ DOO-mə-lay; born January 9, 1971) is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF Doom, often stylized as MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, but metal fingers when using his producing name. He has appeared in several collaborative projects such as Danger Doom (with Danger Mouse) and Madvillain (with Madlib).

History[link]

Early years with KMD[link]

Dumile was born on January 9, 1971, in London, England, the son of a Trinidadian mother and Zimbabwean father.^[1] He then moved with his family to New York and was raised in the city of Long Beach, New York on Long Island.

As Zev Love X, he formed the group KMD in 1988 with his younger brother DJ Subroc and another MC called Rodan. When Rodan left the group, Zev found another MC to replace Rodan named Onyx the Birthstone Kid.^[1] A&R rep Dante Ross learned of KMD through the hip hop group 3rd Bass, and signed the group to Elektra Records.^[2]

Dumile and KMD's recorded debut came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" from The Cactus Album,^[1] followed in 1991 with KMD's album Mr. Hood, which became a minor hit through its singles "Peachfuzz", "Who Me?" and heavy video play on cable TV's Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City.

Subroc was struck and killed by a car in 1993 while attempting to cross the Long Island Expressway before the release of a second KMD album, titled Black Bastards.^[1] The group was subsequently dropped from Elektra Records that same week. Before the release of the album, it was shelved due to controversy over its cover art,^[2] which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny or sambo character being hung from the gallows.

With the loss of his brother, Dumile retreated from the hip hop scene from 1994 to 1997. He testifies to disillusionment and depression, living "damn near homeless, walking the streets of Manhattan, sleeping on benches.^[1][3]" In the late 1990s, he left New York City and settled in Atlanta. According to interviews with Dumile, he was also "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him."^[1] Black Bastards had become bootlegged at the time, leading to Doom's rise in the underground hip hop scene.

Birth of MF DOOM[link]

In 1997, Dumile began freestyling incognito at open-mic events at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan, obscuring his face by putting a stocking over his head. He meanwhile had taken on a new identity, MF Doom, patterned after and wearing a mask similar to that of Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, who is depicted rapping on the cover of the 1999 album Operation: Doomsday. He wears this mask while performing and isn't photographed without it, except for very short glimpses in videos such as Viktor Vaughn's "Mr. Clean", "?", and in earlier photos with KMD.^[1] MF Doom's mask has undergone at least one design revision since its adoption (it is now an altered version of the mask worn by the character Maximus Decimus Meridius in the film Gladiator).

Early career[link]

Dumile released three singles on "Bobbito" García's Fondle 'Em Records, "Dead Bent", and "Greenbacks" (1997), and "The M.I.C." (1998). In 1999 Fondle 'Em released MF Doom's first full-length LP, Operation: Doomsday, which included these singles and their b-sides, and additional tracks. Dumile had used the spelling variant "M.F. DOOM" for the singles releases, but thereafter changed this to "MF DOOM".

Among the collaborators on these tracks were fellow members of the Monsta Island Czars collective (The M.I.C.), for which each artist took on the persona of a monster from the Godzilla mythos. Dumile went by the alias "King Geedorah," a three-headed golden dragon space monster, modeled after King Ghidorah, the Toho movie monster who was a three-headed dragon that often battled Godzilla. Some of his appearances on the LP are as, and are credited to this persona, instead of that of MF Doom. Dumile would revisit this character later under various name-spellings.

Guest appearances, production, and instrumental work[link]

In the years intervening before his next full-length solo release, and continually since, Dumile has appeared on several tracks on other artists' LPs and remixes, contributed one-off tracks to compilations, and done various guest production work.^[4]

In 2002, he appeared on the Sound-Ink's Colapsus collection,on a very hard to find track titled "Monday Nite at Fluid" featuring Kurious with production by King Honey, who also produced some tracks for Dumile's album Vaudeville Villain. DOOM also made an appearance in "November Has Come", a track on Gorillaz's 2005 album Demon Days, which reached #6 on the Billboard 200.^[5]

Besides the Viktor Vaughn album Dumile produces all the instrumentation tracks for his solo releases with very few exceptions.^[4]

Beginning in 2001, under the "Metal Fingers" moniker, Dumile began releasing his Special Herbs instrumentals series. Many of these beats can be heard as the instrumentation tracks throughout his body of work. A separate website catalogs for which tracks each instrumental has been used.^[6]

Ongoing career[link]

In 2003, Dumile released the King Geedorah album Take Me to Your Leader. Geedorah is credited as producer, but only appears as an MC on four tracks. The majority of vocal tracks feature guest MCs, and the album features several instrumental montages of sampled vocals from old movies and TV shows—a technique employed on most of Dumile's albums. Both Venomous Villain and Take Me to Your Leader feature appearances by MF Doom.

Also in 2003, Dumile released the LP Vaudeville Villain under the moniker Viktor Vaughn (another play on Doctor Doom, whose "real name" is Victor von Doom). In 2004 he released a follow-up LP, Venomous Villain (also called VV2).

And, in 2004, the second MF Doom album MM.. Food was released by the Minnesota-based label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Mainstream recognition[link]

DOOM's first commercial breakthrough came in 2004, with the album Madvillainy, created with producer Madlib under the group name Madvillain. Released by Stones Throw Records, the album was a critical and commercial success. MF DOOM was seen by mainstream audiences for the first time as Madvillain received publicity and acclaim in publications such as Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Spin. A video for "All Caps" and a four-date U.S. tour followed the release of Madvillainy. Additional videos for "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion", both directed by Andrew Gura, were released on the DVDs Stones Throw 101 and Stones Throw 102: In Living the True Gods, respectively.

MF Doom collaborated with Danger Mouse who together are known as DANGERDOOM.

Though still an independent artist, MF DOOM took a bigger step towards the mainstream in 2005 with The Mouse and the Mask, a collaboration with producer DJ Danger Mouse under the group name Danger Doom. The album, released on October 11, 2005 by Epitaph, was done in collaboration with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and featured voice-actors and characters from its programs (mostly Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Danger Doom reached #41 on the Billboard 200.^[7] In 2006 DOOM hosted the Adult Swim Christmas special and he could be seen in between shows, usually talking about what was up next, and making jokes.

2006–2009[link]

MF Doom produced tracks for both of Ghostface Killah's 2006 albums Fishscale and More Fish, and the two are currently at work on a collaboration album titled Swift & Changeable. So far only track released from the album is "Angels", which appeared on a Nature Sounds compilation in late 2006, and later re-released in a different fashion on Doom's 2009 album Born Like This. Doom has also revealed plans for a second Madvillain album with producer Madlib, with one song, "Monkey Suite", first appearing on the Adult Swim/Stones Throw Records album Chrome Children, later it appeared on Madvillainy 2 - The Madlib Remix. Other potential projects mentioned by Doom include new albums from Danger Doom,^[8] KMD, as well as further albums under both his Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah aliases. However, many such Doom projects have been rumored in recent years without materializing.

Despite no new Doom releases in 2006, Kidrobot and Stones Throw released an 8" tall Madvillain toy available to coincide with the release of the Chrome Children CD/DVD (hosted by Peanut Butter Wolf) which featured a DVD performance of Madvillain and several other Stones Throw artists. Doom also continued to work with Adult Swim doing voice-over work as Sherman the Giraffe on Perfect Hair Forever, being the voice for The Boondocks ads and previews and hosting their Christmas Eve 2006 programming.

In late January 2009, Lex records confirmed Doom's new album title to be Born Like This, and that the "MF" would be dropped from his name, now just "DOOM".^[9] The album was released worldwide on March 24, 2009.^[10] As a teaser, the track "Ballskin" was posted on Doom's Myspace page on January 13, 2009.^[11] Snippets of the entire album were made available for streaming on Doom's Myspace on the album's release date. The title for the album was inspired by the poem "Dinosauria, We" by poet and writer Charles Bukowski. Doom samples a performance of the poem by Bukowski on the track "Cellz". Previously, Doom used a Bukowski sample for a vocal interlude on 2004's "All Outta Ale.^[12] "Thom Yorke of Radiohead remixed the track "Gazillion Ear" which is available as an iTunes-only bonus track.^[13] June 26, 2009 Kurious released II which featured Doom on the song "Benetton".^[14]

2009-2012[link]

On May 26, 2010, the second single for the next Madvillain album "Paper Mill" was released through Adult Swim.^[15] Expektoration, a live Doom album, was released on September 14, 2010 through Gold Dust Media. In mid 2010, DOOM released the mix-tape "DOOM!", a collection of greatest hits, B-sides and rareties, including the theme for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars featuring Ghostface Killah, and Biochemical Equation, featuring the RZA.

On July 27, 2011 DOOM and Ghostface Killah released the track "Victory Laps" from their long awaited collaboration project Swift & Changeable on the Nature Sounds label.

DOOM was chosen by Portishead to perform at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival that they curated in July 2011 at London's Alexandra Palace.^[16]

DOOM will be the guest curator for Chapter 48 of Frank151's quarterly magazine. Chapter 48 will be released Summer 2012 and will feature a candid interview with DOOM on a variety of topics.^[17]

In September DOOM will be performing live as part of Bestival 2012 on the Isle Of Wight.^[18]

Live show controversy[link]

Dumile has become infamous for allegedly sending imposters to perform on his behalf.^[19] Doom initially countered such accusations by claiming that he lost weight and thus looked - and sounded - different,^[20] before his road manager described the move as an intentional choice made by Dumile.^[21] For his 2011 UK tour, a promoter for the Glasgow show - fearing reduced attendance from a cautious public - guaranteed on Twitter that Dumile would be appearing in person.

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

• 1999: Operation: Doomsday
• 2003: Take Me to Your Leader (as King Geedorah)
• 2003: Vaudeville Villain (as Viktor Vaughn)
• 2004: Venomous Villain (as Viktor Vaughn)
• 2004: Mm.. Food
• 2009: Born Like This (as DOOM)

Compilation Albums[link]

• 2009: Unexpected Guests

Collaboration Albums[link]

• 1991: Mr. Hood (as Zev Love X with KMD)
• 2001: Black Bastards (as Zev Love X with KMD)
• 2003: Escape from Monsta Island! (as King Geedorah with Monsta Island Czars)
• 2004: Madvillainy (with Madlib as Madvillain)
• 2005: The Mouse and the Mask (with Danger Mouse as DANGERDOOM)
• 2006: Occult Hymn (with Danger Mouse as DANGERDOOM)
• 2012: Son of Yvonne (with Masta Ace as MA DOOM)
• 2012: Key to the Kuffs (with Jneiro Jarel as JJ DOOM) ^[22]
• TBA: Swift & Changeable (with Ghostface Killah as DOOMSTARKS)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Daniel Dumile

• MF Doom on Myspace
• Official website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2012)

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[2][dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

It was also used as a term for a drug dealer in the 1950s and 1960s and can be seen in such media as Curtis Mayfield's "No Thing On Me", William Burroughs's novel Naked Lunch, and in the Velvet Underground song "I'm Waiting for the Man", in which Lou Reed sings about going to Uptown Manhattan, specifically Lexington Avenue and 125th Street, to buy heroin.

The use of this term was expanded to counterculture groups and their battles against authority, such as the Yippies, which, according to a May 19, 1969 article in U.S. News and World Report, had the "avowed aim ... to destroy 'The Man', their term for the present system of government". The term eventually found its way into humorous usage, such as in a December 1979 motorcycle ad from the magazine Easyriders which featured the tagline, "California residents: Add 6% sales tax for The Man."

In present day, the phrase has been popularized in commercials and cinema, featuring particularly prominently as a recurring motif in the 2003 film School of Rock.^[3][4][5][6]

Use as praise[link]

The term has also been used as an approbation or form of praise. This may refer to the recipient's status as the leader or authority within a particular context, or it might be assumed to be a shortened form of a phrase like "He is the man (who is in charge)." One example of this usage dates to 1879 when Otto von Bismarck commented, referring to Benjamin Disraeli's pre-eminent position at the Congress of Berlin, "The old Jew, he is the man."^{[7][dubious – discuss]}

In more modern usage, it can be a superlative compliment ("you da man!") indicating that the subject is currently standing out amongst his peers even though they have no special designation or rank, such as a basketball player who is performing better than the other players on the court. It can also be used as a genuine compliment with an implied, slightly exaggerated or sarcastic tone, usually indicating that the person has indeed impressed the speaker but by doing something relatively trivial.

See also[link]

• Absentee landlord
• Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)
• New World Order (conspiracy theory)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• Power elite
• Corrections officer
• YTMND

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Lighter, J.E. (Ed.). (1997). Random House Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House.