Dr. Octagon was a persona created and used by American rapper Keith
Matthew Thornton, better known as
Kool
Keith. First appearing on
Thornton's 1996 debut solo album, Dr. Octagonecologyst, Dr. Octagon
is an extraterrestrial time traveling gynecologist and surgeon
from the planet Jupiter. Thornton performed and released three
albums under the alias. The character was murdered by Dr. Dooom
on Thornton's 1999 album First Come, First Served, and was briefly
revived before once again being killed on Thornton's 2008 album
Dr. Dooom 2, in response to the release of The Return of Dr. Octagon,
an album largely produced without Thornton's involvement.
In Dr. Octagonecologyst, Dr. Octagon is described as having yellow eyes, green
skin, and a pink-and-white Afro.[1] Further tracks detail a list of services
offered by Octagon, who claims to treat chimpanzee acne and moosebumps, and
relocate saliva glands.[2] Octagon is described as being incompetent, as many
of his surgery patients die as he conducts his rounds.[3] Octagon also pretends
to be a gynecologist and often engages in sexual intercourse with female patients
and nurses.[2] Octagon's uncle, Mr. Gerbik, is described as being half shark,
having the skin of an alligator, and is 208 years old.[4]
On First Come, First Served, Dr. Dooom posed as a patient and murdered Dr.
Octagon.[5] Pages from "top secret documents" written by Fanatik
J for The REAL Return of Dr. Octagon Mix Tape reveal a storyline in which Dr.
Dooom's influence over Los Angeles has grown, and Dooom and a "Hybrid" set
out to resurrect the long deceased Octagon as part of "a final bid for
total Industry Chaos".[6] Octagon took a blood sacrifice, an A&R representative
from a classified record label represented by hillbillies under the direction
of the penal colony of Oceania.[6]
A "hasty deal" was struck between Dooom, the Hybrid, and the label.
When the Hybrid revealed that Dooom had made a deal with actual hillbillies,
the Oceanic Penal Colony Overlord exerted his desire to destroy Octagon, and
relations between the label and Dooom became hostile.[6] Dooom instructed the
Hybrid to "turn over use-less acapella and early versions" to facilitate
a final payment from the label.[7] The Hybrid gave the label intentionally
distorted and obscured tracks, neutralizing the label's advantage, and created
an internet portal to leak the tracks.[7]
According to the story published in eight chapters to promote The Return of
Dr. Octagon, a package containing new songs by Octagon arrived at the offices
of OCD International, who hired "interpreters" to decipher the meaning
of each song.[8][9] Three weeks after receiving the package, and still unable
to decode its meaning, OCD received a phone call from an unknown source, tracked
to Los Angeles, New York, Australia and Saturn.[10] The caller claimed to have
received the same package five years ago, and that it had brought destruction
and chaos upon the society that received it, and warns that they will come
after Octagon.[10]
OCD received a message from a hacker identifying himself as Cassettes Won't
Listen, who stated that eight years ago, himself and five friends were abducted
by aliens, tortured, cloned and kept in isolation. The last survivor was killed
by one of the clones, and Cassettes Won’t Listen went underground to
fight the clones.[11] Cassettes Won’t Listen reveals that Dr. Octagon
was imprisoned in the cell next to him, as "a prime candidate to study
all things regarding grills, pills and bills".[11] Octagon was cloned,
and his clones have been sent out to destroy the universe.[11]
Rob Sonic learned that the clones were created by a giant gorilla driving
a pickup truck, who intend to steal the package to prevent the world from hearing
Octagon's message, allowing him to destroy the Earth.[12] OCD's staff escaped
with the package on Kid Loco's plane. An intern briefly saw a figure standing
on OCD's rooftop, wearing a labcoat with stethoscope around his neck, holding
the head of "some black hairy creature" in his hand.[13]
According to "R.I.P. Dr. Octagon", Dr. Dooom made multiple attempts
to murder Octagon, and multiple music critics and record producers made attempts
to keep him alive, until Dooom returned to finally kill off Octagon.[14]
[edit] History
Thornton produced two songs under the alias Dr. Octagon, "Dr. Octagon" and "Technical
Difficulties."[15] Thornton mailed the songs to radio stations as a teaser,
as well as giving copies to several DJs, as well as producer Dan "The
Automator" Nakamura, resulting in the production of Dr. Octagonecologyst.[15]
The album featured the work of turntablist DJ Qbert and additional production
by KutMasta Kurt. An instrumental version of the album was released under the
title Instrumentalyst (Octagon Beats).[16]
In promotion of the album, Thornton toured under the Dr. Octagon billing.
These performances featured a full live band, an on-stage breakdancer and appearances
by Invisibl Skratch Piklz.[17] Nakamura has referred to Dr. Octagon as a three-person
group rather than an alias of Thornton,[18] and these claims were reported
by the press.[19]
Thornton later expressed some frustration with the "Dr. Octagon" nickname,
saying, "Octagon wasn't my life...I've done a lot of things that were
totally around different things other than Octagon. Are some people just afraid
to venture off into my life and see that I do other things which are great?
I think people stuck me with something."[20]
In 2002, Thornton announced The Resurrection of Dr. Octagon, a proposed sequel
to Dr. Octagonecologyst, that would reintroduce the character.[21] Los Angeles-based
producer Fanatik J was chosen to create the music for the album.[15] Thornton
himself took part in the production of early material for the project, playing
bass, guitar, and keyboards on many of the tracks.[22]
After shopping around demos for the proposed album, Thornton signed a contract
with CMH Records to release the album.[15] On July 23, 2002, Rolling Stone
reported that a new Dr. Octagon album would be released in February 2003.[22]
As production on the album was underway, Thornton had a falling out with Fanatik
J over contract rights, and the One-Watt Sun production team was hired to create
the album's music.[15] After completing three vocal tracks with the label,
based upon rough sonic themes created by the production team, Thornton had
a falling out with the label, and gave the label recordings he had made two
years previously, consisting of Thornton rapping and goofing off, in order
to complete his contract. The resulting album, The Return of Dr. Octagon, was
largely produced without Thornton's involvement, and did not resemble the direction
Thornton had initially intended for the album.[15]
Promotional materials, including music videos, were produced without Thornton's
involvement. Thornton states that he was "shocked" by the label's
misrepresentation.[15] Following the release of the album, Thornton performed
under the Dr. Octagon billing, but did not promote the album.[23] Dr. Dooom
2, Thornton's 2008 follow-up to First Come, First Served, was produced in response
to The Return of Dr. Octagon.[20] In the music video for "R.I.P. Dr. Octagon",
the appearance of Dr. Octagon resembles the character design used in promotional
materials by CMH Records.