Controversial rapper MF Doom has been accused of a variety of nefarious plots and schemes over the years, from brawling with his hype man and fleeing the stage, to sending out his manager (and others) to perform in his stead, but according to 'NY Mag,' his latest stunt might be his most confusing.

The mysterious emcee, who wears an iron mask and records under a variety of aliases, is releasing a new live album on September 14, entitled 'Expektoration,' but according to 'NY Mag''s website, the album is not what it claims to be.

"'Expektoration,' to these untrained ears, sounds staged. As in, not actually live," writer Amos Barshad reports. "As in, MF Doom released a live album following a fake-live-show scandal, and that live album is not live."Barshad goes on to explain that the "live" album sounds more like "studio gimmickry," and questions Doom's intentions for releasing such a project.

"It's certainly Doom's voice, recorded live without any studio gimmickry, and there's certainly a hype man there with him, shouting all manners of crowd-hyping platitudes. But are there actually people present?" Barshad continues. "The noises of the crowd seem to pipe up, out of nowhere, at oddly appropriate moments, like whenever a song fades out, and then sharply disappear again. Doom addresses the crowd, they respond maniacally; he goes back to rapping, they evaporate completely. We hear 'New York, let me hear some noise, ya'll!' - and, on cue, a few seconds of response, then nothing. Cheers turn instantly to boos, and then quickly back again, with no explanation."

It is unlikely that we'll ever know the method to Doom's madness, but we're interested to watch the villain's next move.

As Barshad concludes, in the end all that matters is the quality of Doom's work. "Then again: Are we overanalyzing this because it's Doom? Very possible! And more important, with all that said, 'Expektoration' is kind of great."

MF Doom's 'Expektoration' will be released on September 14. Get yourself one.

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