Before Lil Wayne decided he was a martian (which, according to XXL, was a gimmick inspired by Cee-Lo), emcee Kool Keith was already preaching his extraterrestrial status to Earthlings. His claim as Dr. Octagon in the seminal 1995 single “Earth People” (“Earth People, New York and California. Earth people, I was born on Jupiter”) seems much more justified than Weezy’s, given his ridiculous lyrical orbit over the past quarter-century. A founding member of groundbreaking hip-hop group Ultramagenetic MCs, Keith has been spouting rhythmic nonsense via a variety of absurd aliases and M.D. monikers. He’s still ragingly prolific, with two new records fresh on the shelves: his second full-length as Dr. Dooom, and a new collaboration with Tim Dog and Marc Live as Project X, who are appearing live tonight the 9:30 Club.

Keith may have killed off Octagon at the beginning of First Come, First Served—-his debut album as Dr. Dooom—-but apparently he wasn’t quite dead; the madman was resurrected with 2006’s The Return of Dr. Octagon. On the sequel, Dr. Dooom 2 (released last week), Keith lyrically ensures Doc Oc is officially D.O.A., quickly elaborating the tactics used to finish the job. Check the new video below for details:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMeOrWuOtBI]

The record continues in B-movie gore and horrorcore surrealism, with Keith dispatching a cool lunatic flow over dreary horn samples and creepy beats. But the gruesome imagery on Dr. Dooom 2 seems quite a contrast from his material in Project X. From the samples I heard on their MySpace, the incarnation sounds more gangstafied than Dooom, harping on thug topics with touches of boom-bap. The new album, Iconic, officially drops on October 15th, and the trio is in the middle of their worldwide tour, which just took them through Australia in September. Their appearance at 9:30 tonight should at least tie you over until the Dr. Dooom tour, which is scheduled to kick off in February 2009, according to Threshold records.

Project X
Oct. 3rd
9:30 Club
815 V St. NW
Late Show —- doors @ Midnight
$20