Kool Keith may or may not have actually been institutionalized for mental illness, but regardless of its veracity, that story became one of hip-hop's most powerful rumors. It's easy to see why so many people believe it: Years before Lil Wayne made lunatic rhymes fashionable, Keith was rapping in dense, manic and utterly off-the-wall imagery, first as the engine behind the golden-age Bronx rap crew the Ultramagnetic MC's, and then as the demented mind behind Dr. Octagon, his gynecologist-in-space epic with producer Dan the Automator. Keith has bounced between myriad personas since that career-defining project, among them Black Elvis, Dr. Dooom, Reverand Tom, Mr. Nogatco and Tashan Dorrsett. He's not much for quality control, but even his shakiest albums occasionally recapture the bizarre spark that made Dr. Octagon such an instant underground phenomenon.
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