NPR: Doseone Rocks the BPP

Doseone Rocks the BPP

Filed under: Music

When Adam Drucker -- aka "Doseone," the emcee for the band Subtle -- stopped by the BPP a couple of weeks ago, he ended up hijacking most of our day. Subtle has made a dense, intricate sci-fi themed trilogy of records featuring a character called Hour Hero Yes who's trying to escape from a world slightly removed from our own. Ambitious, yes. And easy to bury your head in; maybe not so easy to emerge from.

Before the band recorded the third album in the trilogy, "ExitingARM," Drucker wrote a 20,000 word document he calls "The Ought Almanac of Amassed Fact Vol 1." It's sort of a guide to the adventures of Hour Hero Yes, and Drucker is in the process of turning that work into a Web-based graphic novel. While he was at the BPP, he was kind enough to record some of that work, and then gave us some of the original music that was fleshed out on "ExitingARM" to use as a backing track. You'll see the art from exitingarm.com in the video as well.

Drucker isn't shy about his ambitions -- he references sci-fi epics, Galway poetry, and real life-and-death encounters in the same breath -- but he's a joy to listen to. Always challenging, and always a pleasure. Plus, after he finished reading his poetry, he completely demolished BPP video producer Win Rosenfeld in a freestyle rap battle.

Jacob Ganz

1:30 PM ET | 06- 6-2008 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

whats up with the constant mentioning of Doseone's real name. Its always Adam "Doseone" Drucker. Did he request that? Cause to an emcee or to any artist that seems insulting. You didn't refer to Eminem as Marshall Mathers.I would be offended. If i was like,"Hello, my name is Doseone. I'm an influential underground emcee. You may have heard me on many exciting Jel beats. I sound like a wizard." And someone said back to me,"Hello, Adam Drucker." I'd be a little taken aback. Is it because he is a white artsy dude? You know what they call Ghostface Killah when they meet him? They call him Ghostface Killah,Tony Starks,Ghostface, Pretty Toney,Ironman,Captain America,Faceless,The Wally Champ,Pretty Starks,Ghost Deini, Scott Kitner,GFK, or
Killah Wit No Face. OK, that might not be the best example. But I'm pretty sure no one in that studio is walking around calling him Dennis Coles.

Sent by shawn | 10:56 PM ET | 06-06-2008

Dear Shawn (first person to comment),
Perhaps you are one of the 'Downloading' species and not of the 'Honestly Buying' species. This might excuse you for not being familiar with Dose's (own) artwork, in which he refers to himself as Adam "Doseone" Drucker. Jel, for instance is referred to as Jeffry "Jel" Logan. Plus, in reviews a lot of artists are being called their real names. Which doesn't defend the use of Dose's real name in this case, but I don't need to anyway... And 'Doseone' is just as much a creation of Adam Drucker as is the work he presents under said alias. This alone justifies mentioning the true creator and not just his creation.

Sent by Tiddo Muda | 2:32 PM ET | 06-07-2008

My experience has been this...
In person, Adam introduces himself as Adam--not Dose. So, Adam it has been. The names are, IMO, interchangeable. There's a time and place for Adam and Dose. Freshno.

Sent by MC Paperclip | 5:28 PM ET | 06-11-2008

In fact, even on his recordings he talks about himself, often in third person, calling himself Adam. Especially his album with Boom Bip, 'Circle', comes to mind. Which to this day still stands as my favorite of his recordings.

Sent by Tiddo Muda | 6:29 PM ET | 06-13-2008

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