Dr. Octagon was a fictional character created by American rapper Keith 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.
Following the release of the Ultramagnetic MCs' third album The Four Horsemen (1993), member Keith "Kool Keith" Thornton produced two songs under the alias Dr. Octagon: "Dr. Octagon" and "Technical Difficulties".Thornton mailed the songs to radio stations as well as giving copies to several DJs and record producer Dan "The Automator" Nakamura. This led to Nakamura's role in producing the album.
DJ Qbert made fundamental contributions to the album's production with his innovative scratching.
Dr. Octagonecologyst has been praised for its original sound, which has often been attributed to Nakamura. However, Thornton states that he was largely involved with the production of the album.Thornton is quoted as saying "Automator and Kurt are probably receiving more credit than I did, but I was a big musical person behind Octagon." Nakamura has said he wanted Dr. Octagonecologyst to stand out from other hip hop albums, citing the music of Eric B. & Rakim, Mantronix, and Run-D.M.C. as influences."Hip-hop was always inventive. Then the '90s hit and everyone wants to be Dr. Dre; no one wants to be their own thing anymore. Everyone now wants to have the Lexus and deal pounds of drugs. We don't do that. That's not our lifestyle. You don't see us coming out with the fur coat. There's more to music than that," Nakamura said.The album incorporates use of organic instrumentation and features Moog synthesizer, flute, and string instruments.
Dialogue excerpts from pornographic films appear on multiple tracks. On the Bulk Recordings edition of the album, "halfsharkalligatorhalfman" is preceded by an excerpt from the comedy film Cabin Boy.[7] Lily Moayeri of Rolling Stone called the album a "psychedelic hip-hop concept album." Allmusic reviewer Steve Huey wrote that the album "shed some light on the burgeoning turntablist revival via the scratching fireworks of DJ Q-Bert" and its "futuristic, horror-soundtrack production seemed to bridge the gap between hip-hop and the more electronic-oriented trip-hop". Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews also praised its sound, writing that "Cuts are provided with infinite skill and precision by DJ Q-Bert" and that the DJ Shadow/Automator remix of "Waiting List" is "so good that you could hardly miss the original, if indeed there was one."[9] An instrumental version of the album was released in 1996 under the title Instrumentalyst (Octagon Beats). Kembrew McLeod of Allmusic wrote of the instrumental album, stating "If any other artist released an album such as this it would be considered throwaway trash—something for the hardcore fans. But Dan the Automator's backing tracks are so fresh and original, it's actually nice to just hear the beats minus the rhymes. .