DOOM & Damu The Fudgemunk's Infamous "Coco Mango," Sliced & Diced Gets 7-inch Re-issue & NEKTR Music Video (Redefinition Records)

MF DOOM/DOOM die-hards will know, in addition to his plethora of officially released albums under his various aliases, side-projects, and producer-helmed albums, there's a gaggle of unofficial remixes, mash-ups, bootlegs, etc. Although, even as a self-professed DOOM super-fan, there's one particular release I—and I'm sure many villainous collectors—hadn't heard of until very, very recently: MF DOOM & Damu The Fudgemunk - "Coco Mango," Sliced & Diced. Parisian production duo Union (sometimes, referred to as "Union Analogtronics") quietly released the original version of "Coco Mango" on their 2012 FatBeats Records album, Analogtronics; in addition to DOOM, Union's OJ & GOLD, also, recruited the likes of Sly Johnson, Talib Kweli, Moka Only, eLZhi, Rapper Big Pooh (Little Brother,) Roc Marciano, and Guilty Simpson, amongst other Hip-Hop/Electronic artists. Those who KNOW, may know Union Analogtronics additionally put out a 2016 joint FatBeats album with ever-elusive LA emcee and producer, Blu, entitled Cheetah In The City. Around 2011-12, Redefinition Records' co-founder Damu The Fudgemunk cooked up a couple remixes of Union & DOOM's "Coco Mango," often labelled as "Boy Scout Remix," "Power Outage Mix," "Redef Remix," "Redef Boy Scout Remix," "Y Society Power Outage Mix," or most frequently, "Sliced & Diced."


Damu The Fudgeunk's coveted Boy Scout/Power Outage Remixes were, supposedly, released on a limited edition 2011-12 7-inch that "sold out in two weeks and became an underground smash in it's own right," but I can't currently find any sign of it on Discogs. There are, however, listings for 2012's Redef Remixes CD and a Union Remix Instrumentals 10-inch. Now, "Coco Mango," Sliced & Diced has been properly re-issued on 7-inch vinyl for the first time in seven years; we were able to get our hands on the super-limited orange-colored vinyl second pressing, which is now completely SOLD OUT... but a "third" standard black edition is currently still available directly from Redefinition Records. World-renown artist and illustrator Joseph "Joe Buck" Buckingham, Jr. (De La Soul, Blu, Kev Brown) did the artwork and front cover design for Redef Records' 2019 45 re-issue. Last week, a music video for DOOM / Damu's "Coco Mango" premiered on the esteemed pages of our mate's site, GrownUpRap. It was artfully directed and animated by The Witzard's friend and frequent collaborator, Shawn "Shon J." Johnson (@oldsoulbrother1) for NEKTR. Also, down at the very bottom of this post, you will find a 16-track Spotify playlist entitled DOOM & Union "Coco Mango" (Sliced & Diced) Cuts, wherein I tried my absolute best to loosely trace back the lineage of "Coco Mango," as well as a few choice cuts from Union Analogtronics' follow-up releases.

"In 2011, Paris-based production duo the Union collaborated with DOOM for their album, Analogtronics on the single, "Coco Mango." This track would be remixed by DC's, Damu The Fudgemunk for a limited 7-inch that sold out in two weeks and became an underground smash in it's own right. Being a DOOM & MADVILLAIN fan, Damu took to the opportunity to lay 2 remixes both inspired specifically by MADVILLAIN's track, "Rhinestone Cowboy." The results are commonly dubbed "Coco Mango, Sliced" (Power Outage Mix) and "Coco Mango, Diced" (Boy Scout Mix.)

"Coco Mango, Sliced" enlisted a sharp guest verse from Boston's Insight The Truncator. Fun Fact: while producing the remixes, Damu lost power in his studio, literally, after recording a demo of the the first mix and lost the unsaved [beat] in his MPC. That 2-track demo would become what was published, hence the "(Power Outage Mix.)" Instead of re-creating the exact same beat he lost, Damu took the same sample and put a different swing on it, giving us Remix No.2, "(Boy Scout Mix.)"

Since it's original release, these remixes have become known as "The DOOM Record You've Never Heard," due to it's short shelf life. Though a re-press would've made perfect sense in 2011, it's now 2019 and these tracks are finally getting a proper re-issue. The cover art was handled by well-known artist Joe Buck of De La Soul fame and pays homage to DOOM using his signature hand-drawn technique accenting a classic masked photo of Damu The Fudgemunk. Everything about this record screams High Quality Hip-Hop.

Brought to you by one of the genre's most respected producers, Damu The Fudgemunk & Redefinition Records, fans now have an opportunity to own this gem documenting and celebrating one of our largest icons, MF DOOM."

- Redefinition Records (@REDEFrecords)