This page features writings on geopolitics, religion, history, music, the cinema, and other things by Noah Aaron Moses Solomon Dante Jamal Enoch Hezekiah Lateef Goodbaum of Toronto, Canada. In addition to his work as an essayist and to another simple part-time job, Goodbaum makes rap music under the name The Mighty Rhino. His music can be accessed on Bandcamp here and on Spotify here.
In his capacity as The Mighty Rhino, Goodbaum received a nomination at the Toronto Independent Music Awards in 2012, was a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition that same year, was nominated for the “best rapper in Toronto” award by the editorship of NOW magazine in 2015, and was a featured performer at the Northern Power Summit in 2019. His music has received acclaim from Exclaim! magazine, Maclean’s magazine, Torontoist, Scratched Vinyl, Houdini Mansions, and Crates of Boombap. His fans include the legendary songwriter John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats (who has called his music “wonderful” and “beautiful”), as well as Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Ed the Sock, and the music critics Chuck Eddy (of The Village Voice and Rolling Stone magazines), Carl Wilson (of Slate magazine), Joe Tangari, and Nate Patrin.
Goodbaum has been interviewed by the Stoner Girls’ Guide, Indie Music Discovery, the Damaged Goods podcast, the Problematically Positive podcast, and the Imaginary Wednesdays Discord channel. Documentaries about him have been produced by Daniel K. Epstein (as part of his interview series Portraits In Faith), the journalist Simon Sharkey-Gotlieb, and the disability arts organization Tangled Art & Disability. In 2022, Daniel K. Epstein released the Portraits In Faith coffee table book, which features an excerpt of his interview with Goodbaum.
Goodbaum has released five albums of music: He Whom The Beat Sets Free Is Free Indeed (2011), We Will No Longer Retreat Into Darkness (2018), A Joy Which Nothing Can Erase (2019), The Royal Falcon EP (2020), and To Relieve The Sorrow-Laden Heart (2022).
Goodbaum has appeared on songs with a variety of rap legends, including Prince Po of Organized Konfusion, A.G. of the Diggin’ In The Crates crew, Tragedy Khadafi of The Juice Crew, Fatlip of The Pharcyde, Big Mike of Rap-A-Lot Records (via The Geto Boys and The Convicts), Witchdoctor and Big Rube of The Dungeon Family, Young Bleed of Master P’s No Limit tank, Pacewon and Young Zee of the Outsidaz, Chip Fu of Fu-Schnickens, Doodlebug of the Grammy-winning Digable Planets, Juno winners Thrust and The Legend Adam Bomb, Juno nominee D-Sisive, New York underground veterans Thirstin Howl III and Kwest Tha Madd Lad, Oakland’s Shady Blaze, Detroit’s Guilty Simpson, Philadelphia’s Slaughter Rico, El Da Sensei and the late Tame One of The Artifacts, and others.
Goodbaum’s dynamic live performances have won the respect and appreciation of such revered figures as Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, Jeru The Damaja of the Gang Starr Foundation, Masta Ace of The Juice Crew, the members of Das EFX and Lords of the Underground, and Canada’s “godmother and godfather of rap music”, Michie Mee and Maestro Fresh Wes, among others. He is a member of the rap group Champions of Everything, with Donny Yonder and Ultra Magnus, and is also part of two rap duos: one with Jesse Dangerously under the name Twin Uncles, and one with Skizza under their own names (Skizza & The Mighty Rhino). Further, Rhino maintains unofficial rap partnerships with More Or Les, Ev Thompson, Roshin, Fraction, and the producers and engineers Fresh Kils, Myer Clarity, and Notion, among others.
In addition to his work as a rap artist, Goodbaum is an anti-fascist geopolitical analyst attempting to carve out space in the mainstream for “the borderland between liberalism and the Left.” He is an anti-totalitarian, an anti-Stalinist democratic socialist, an opponent of the global jihad ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and its ilk, a left-wing “two states for two peoples” Zionist, and a supporter of the global expansion of equality of rights and dignity for LGBTQ+ people, the right to safe and legal abortion, legalized sex work, the legalization of all drugs for consenting adults, and the First Amendment (but not the Second Amendment) to the Constitution of the United States of America. He is something of an “interfaith dervish”, a moral universalist and finitistic theist who has been informally affiliated with the Bahá’í Faith since the year 2003 and who also maintains connections to the Inayati Sufi, Unitarian Universalist, Reconstructionist Jewish, Sevener Nizari Ismaili Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Ahmadi Muslim, Baptist, and Anglican communities. He situates all of his political and theological commentary in the framework of the defense of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Goodbaum has been an obsessive rap music fanatic since roughly the year 2000, and will write extensively about the genre here, as well as offering stray thoughts on pop, soul, R&B, reggae, funk, blues, folk, country, indie rock, and whatever other music happens to catch his fancy. He has also been a cinephile since roughly the year 1997, and will write about great movies when and where he can.
A great deal of supplementary information about Goodbaum is to be found here, including links to general-interest articles on the majority of public figures in whose lives and works Goodbaum is interested, the philosophical and spiritual questions which concern him, the names of most of his favourite music and film artisans, and much else.
It is hoped that whomever comes across these writings finds them worth their time to engage with; Goodbaum intends to write with an eye to nuance and to strengthen his capacity to make compelling arguments which bear in mind the full range of the complexity of the matters being investigated. He offers warmth and goodwill in a spirit of friendship and amity to each and all.
Goodbaum can be reached by email at theroyalfalcononthewristofgod@gmail.com.
