Allmusic reviewer Steve Huey wrote that "Dr. Octagonecologyst" "...attracted more attention than any non-mainstream rap album in quite a while, thanks to its inventive production and Keith's bizarre, free-associative rhymes." Huey also states that "Dr. Octagonecologyst" represented "...the first truly new, genuine alternative to commercial hip-hop since the Native Tongues' heyday. It appealed strongly to alternative audiences who'd grown up with rap music, but simply hadn't related to it since the rise of gangsta". Thornton expressed some frustration with the Dr. Octagon nickname, saying, "I just made a record. I was an artist on a project, and I think people that I was an artist on a project. Octagon wasn't my life...I've done a lot of things that were totally around different things other than Octagon. Are some people just afraid to venture off into my life and see that I do other things which are great? I think people stuck me with something."