Born Like This

Born Like This (stylized in all caps) is the sixth and final solo studio album by British-American rapper/producer MF Doom. It was released under the pseudonym "Doom" on March 24, 2009 through Lex Records. It debuted at number 52 on the Billboard 200 chart, having sold 10,895 copies as of March 29, 2009.^[1] In addition to tracks produced by MF Doom, the album includes production by frequent collaborator Madlib, as well as J Dilla. The album title is borrowed from Charles Bukowski's poem "Dinosauria, We", which employs it as a cadence. The track "Cellz" opens with a sampled recording of Bukowski reading the poem.^[2]

Born Like This
Studio album by DOOM
Released	March 24, 2009 (2009-03-24)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	40:34
Label	Lex
Producer	Doom Mr. Chop J Dilla Jake One Madlib
MF Doom chronology
Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix (2008) Born Like This (2009) Unexpected Guests (2009)
Singles from Born Like This
"Gazzillion Ear" Released: January 2010

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
The A.V. Club	A−[5]
Consequence of Sound	A−[6]
Drowned in Sound	7/10[7]
HipHopDX	3.5/5[8]
The Observer	[9]
Paste	76/100[10]
Pitchfork	8.0/10[11]
Slant Magazine	[12]
URB	[13]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Born Like This received an average score of 77% based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[3]

Born Like This ranked at number 4 on The Skinny's "2009: A Year in Records" list.^[14] Pitchfork included it in their best albums of 2009, placing it at number 48.^[15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Supervillain Intro"	Daniel Dumile Kelvin Mercer Coz Littler	MF Doom Mr. Chop	0:54
2.	"Gazzillion Ear"	Dumile James Yancey	J Dilla	4:12
3.	"Ballskin"	Dumile	Jake One	1:30
4.	"Yessir!" (featuring Raekwon)	Dumile	MF Doom	2:34
5.	"Absolutely"	Dumile Otis Jackson Jr.	Madlib	2:43
6.	"Rap Ambush"	Dumile	Jake One	1:28
7.	"Lightworks"	Dumile Yancey Raymond Scott	J Dilla	1:52
8.	"Batty Boyz"	Dumile	MF Doom	3:16
9.	"Angelz" (featuring Tony Starks)	Dumile	MF Doom	3:07
10.	"Cellz"	Dumile Littler	MF Doom Mr. Chop	4:21
11.	"Still Dope" (featuring Empress Stahhr tha Femcee)	Dumile	MF Doom	2:40
12.	"Microwave Mayo"	Dumile	Jake One	2:26
13.	"More Rhymin'"	Dumile	Jake One	1:39
14.	"That's That"	Dumile Galt MacDermot	MF Doom	2:15
15.	"Supervillainz" (featuring Kurious, Mobonix, Posdnous, Prince Paul & Slug)	Dumile Littler Mercer Maurice White Jorge Alvarez Paul Huston Sean Daley	MF Doom Mr. Chop	2:49
16.	"Bumpy's Message" (featuring Bumpy Knuckles)	Dumile Littler Daley	MF Doom Mr. Chop	1:36
17.	"Thank Yah"	Dumile	MF Doom	1:14
Total length:				40:34

Sample credits and additional notes

• "Gazzillion Ear" samples "Trouble" (performed) by Brenton Wood and "Theme from Midnight Express" by Giorgio Moroder. The instrumental track for "Gazzillion Ear" is also based on "Dig It" and "Phantom of the Synths", both by J Dilla.^[16]
• "Yessir!" samples "UFO" by ESG.
• "Absolutely" samples a Horn section from "Creep" by TLC.^[17] It also uses a vocal sample from "Sun Goddess" by Ramsey Lewis.^[17]
• "Lightworks" samples "Lightworks" by Raymond Scott.
• Instrumental track for "Lightworks" is also based on J Dilla's version of "Lightworks", from the album Donuts.^[16]
• "Angelz" was recorded in 2006.^[11][12]
• "Cellz" samples "Dinosora, We" by Charles Bukowski.
• "Cellz" is split into two tracks: "Cellz, Pt.1" and "Cellz, Pt.2" on the redux version.
• "That's That" samples "Princess Gika" by Galt MacDermot; it also contains dialog excerpts from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, performed by Christopher Lloyd.^[10]

Personnel

• Mr. Chop – additional instruments (1, 10, 15–16)
• Paloma Faith (aka “Cat-Girl”) – additional vocals (1–2, 9)
• G Koop – keyboards, guitar, bass (3, 6, 12–13)
• Posdnuos (aka P-Pain) – additional vocals (1, 15)
• Prince Paul (aka Filthy Pablo) – additional vocals (15)
• Raekwon – additional vocals (9)

Charts

Chart performance for Born Like This

Chart (2009)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[18]	52
US Billboard Independent Albums[19]	5
US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[20]	29
US Billboard Rap Albums[21]	9