MF Doom

MF Doom
File:MF Doom - Hultsfred 2011 (cropped).jpg MF Doom performing in November 2011
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Dumile
Also known as	Zev Love X King Geedorah King Ghidra Viktor Vaughn Metal Fingers King Dumile DOOM Metal Face
Born	(1971-01-09)9 January 1971 London, England
Origin	New York City, U.S.
Died
Genres	Underground hip hop alternative hip hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper songwriter record producer
Instruments	Vocals sampler synthesizer drum machine programming
Years active	1988–2020
Labels	Fondle 'Em Metal Face Nature Sounds Stones Throw Lex Rhymesayers Elektra Sub Verse Big Dada INgrooves
Associated acts	KMD Monsta Island Czars Bishop Nehru Czarface Danger Doom Ghostface Killah J Dilla Jake One JJ Doom Madvillain MF Grimm Westside Gunn
Website	gasdrawls.com

Daniel Dumile (/ˈduːmiːleɪ/ doo-MEE-lay; 9 January 1971 – 31 October 2020) was a British rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He performed and released music under several stage names, most notably MF Doom, which Dumile preferred to be stylized in all caps. Dumile debuted during hip hop's golden age of the late 1980s and became a major figure in underground hip hop of the early 21st century. Upon his death, Variety called him "[o]ne of the most celebrated, unpredictable and enigmatic figures in independent hip-hop".

Born in London, Dumile moved with his family to Long Island, New York at a young age. He began his musical career in 1988 as a member of the East Coast hip hop trio KMD, at which time he performed under the name Zev Love X. KMD disbanded in 1993 following the death of Dumile's brother, DJ Subroc. After taking a hiatus from the music scene, Dumile reemerged in 1998, when he began performing at open mic events while wearing a mask. He adopted the MF Doom persona and rarely made unmasked public appearances from that time onward. His metal mask resembles that of Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, who is depicted rapping on the cover of his 1999 debut solo album Operation: Doomsday. In the early 2000s, Dumile also released solo albums under the pseudonyms King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn.

Dumile frequently collaborated with other producers and rappers, most notably with Madlib under the moniker Madvillain. The duo's 2004 album Madvillainy received widespread critical acclaim upon its release and has been cited as Dumile's magnum opus and a landmark in hip hop. Dumile's other notable collaborations include Danger Doom (with Danger Mouse), Doomstarks (with Ghostface Killah), JJ Doom (with Jneiro Jarel), NehruvianDoom (with Bishop Nehru), and Czarface Meets Metal Face (with Czarface).

Early life

Dumile was born on 9 January 1971 in London, England, the son of a Trinidadian mother and a Zimbabwean father. His family moved to Long Island, New York, when he was a child; Dumile remained a British citizen. Dumile grew up in Freeport, New York, and first started DJ'ing during the summer after third grade.

Music career

1988–1993: Career beginnings with KMD

As Zev Love X, the first of his many pseudonyms, Dumile formed the group KMD in 1988 with his younger brother DJ Subroc and another MC called Rodan. When Rodan left the group, Zev found another MC, Onyx the Birthstone Kid, to replace Rodan. Artists and repertoire representative Dante Ross learned of KMD through the hip hop group 3rd Bass and signed the group to Elektra Records. Dumile and KMD's recording debut came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" from The Cactus Album, followed in 1991 with KMD's album Mr. Hood, which became a minor hit through its singles "Peachfuzz", "Who Me?" and heavy video play on cable TV's Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City.

In 1993, just before the release of the second KMD album, Black Bastards, Subroc was struck by a car and killed while attempting to cross the Nassau Expressway, and that same week the group was dropped from Elektra Records. The album was shelved before it was released due to its controversial cover art, which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny or sambo character being hanged. After the death of his brother, Dumile retreated from the hip hop scene from 1994 to 1997, living "damn near homeless, walking the streets of Manhattan, sleeping on benches". In the late 1990s, he left New York City and settled in Atlanta. According to interviews with Dumile, he was also "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him". Black Bastards had become bootlegged at the time.

1997–2001: Operation Doomsday and production work

In 1997 or 1998, Dumile began freestyling incognito at open-mic events at the Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan, obscuring his face by putting tights over his head. He meanwhile had taken on a new identity, MF Doom, patterned after and wearing a mask similar to that of Marvel Comics super-villain Doctor Doom, who is depicted rapping on the cover of the 1999 album Operation: Doomsday. Young argues that, by appropriating the Doctor Doom mask, Dumile "positions himself as enemy, not only of the music industry but also of dominant constructions of identity that relegate him as a black man to second-class citizenship". Later versions of the mask would be based on a prop mask obtained from the film Gladiator. He wore this mask while performing and isn't photographed without it, except for very short glimpses in videos such as Viktor Vaughn's "Mr. Clean", "?", and in earlier photos with KMD.

Dumile released three singles on "Bobbito" García's Fondle 'Em Records, "Dead Bent" (as Metal Face Doom), "Greenbacks" (1997), and "The M.I.C." (1998). In 1999 Fondle 'Em released MF Doom's first full-length LP, Operation: Doomsday, which included these singles and their B-sides, and additional tracks. Dumile had used the spelling variant "M.F. Doom" for the singles' releases, but thereafter changed this to MF Doom. Among the collaborators on these tracks were fellow members of the Monsta Island Czars collective (The M.I.C.), for which each artist took on the persona of a monster from the Godzilla mythos. Dumile went by the alias King Geedorah, a three-headed golden dragon space monster, modeled after King Ghidorah, the Toho movie monster who was a three-headed dragon that often battled Godzilla. Some of his appearances on the LP are as, and are credited to, this persona instead of that of MF Doom. Dumile would revisit this character later under various name-spellings.

In 2001, he began working with Prince Paul, co-producing MC Paul Barman's "Paullelujah!" with MikeTheMusicGuy and Phofo.

Dumile has produced all the instrumentation tracks for his solo releases, with very few exceptions. Beginning in 2001, under the "Metal Fingers" moniker, Dumile began releasing his Special Herbs instrumentals series. Many of these beats can be heard as the instrumentation tracks throughout his body of work. A separate website catalogs for which tracks each instrumental has been used.

2002–2004: King Geedorah, Viktor Vaughn, Madvillain

In 2003, Dumile released the King Geedorah album Take Me to Your Leader. Geedorah is credited as producer, but only appears as an MC on four tracks. The majority of vocal tracks feature guest MCs, and the album features several instrumental montages of sampled vocals from old movies and TV shows—a technique employed on most of Dumile's albums. Later in 2003, Dumile released the LP Vaudeville Villain under the moniker Viktor Vaughn (another play on Doctor Doom, whose "real name" is Victor von Doom). In 2004 he released a follow-up LP under the Viktor Vaughn moniker, Venomous Villain. Later in 2004, the second MF Doom album Mm..Food was released by Minnesota-based label Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Doom's first commercial breakthrough came in 2004, with the album Madvillainy, created with producer Madlib under the group name Madvillain. Released by Stones Throw Records, the album was a critical and commercial success. MF Doom was seen by mainstream audiences for the first time as Madvillain received publicity and acclaim in publications such as Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Spin.

2005–2009: Danger Doom and Ghostface collaboration

Although still an independent artist, MF Doom took a bigger step towards the mainstream in 2005 with The Mouse and the Mask, a collaboration with producer DJ Danger Mouse under the group name Danger Doom. The album, released on 11 October 2005 by Epitaph and Lex, was done in collaboration with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and featured voice-actors and characters from its programs (mostly Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Danger Doom reached #41 on the Billboard 200. In 2005, Doom made an appearance on "November Has Come", a track on Gorillaz's 2005 album Demon Days, which reached #6 on the Billboard 200.

Doom produced tracks for both of Ghostface Killah's 2006 albums Fishscale and More Fish, it was also announced that the two were working on a collaboration album together as Doomstarks, then titled Swift & Changeable. Three tracks have been released since the album was announced, "Angels", which appeared on a Nature Sounds compilation in late 2006 (another version appears on Doom's 2009 album Born Like This), "Victory Laps" and "Lively Hood" (a 2015 Adult Swim single).

On March 14, 2006, Doom and producer Parallel Thought released a song called "Vomit". According to Parallel Thought, "Vomit" had been recorded before Doom reused its lyrics on "Vomitspit" on the 2004 album Mm...Food.

The Madvillain song, "Monkey Suite", first appeared on the Adult Swim/Stones Throw Records compilation Chrome Children, later it appeared on Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix.

Following the success of Danger Doom, he signed a long term agreement with Lex in 2006. With the exception of a handful of guest appearances, there were no Doom releases between mid-2006 and the release of Born Like This. Doom's Born Like This was released on Lex Records on March 24, 2009. The album was Doom's first solo album to chart in the US.

2010–2020: Key to the Kuffs, NehruvianDoom, and Czarface Meets Metal Face

File:MF Doom The Arches 3.jpg

Dumile in 2010

In early 2010, he released the Gazzillion Ear EP on Lex which included the Thom Yorke Remix and two mixes by Jneiro Jarel. A further remix by Madvillainy featuring a voicemail message from Kanye West was released online. The release of the Gazzillion Ear EP coincided with Doom's first ever live performances outside North America. On 5 March 2010, Lex and Sónar presented the first Doom show in London, at The Roundhouse in Camden. The event was the first of many Doom live performances around the world between early 2010 and the present. These shows included the Lex 10th Anniversary show at The Roundhouse with Ghostface Killah and Jneiro Jarel, performances in Europe with Gorillaz, support for Portishead and performances with Jneiro Jarel at Bestival 2012. During this period, Doom released some material on labels other than Lex. On 26 May 2010, part of the Madvillain track "Paper Mill" was released as a digital single through Adult Swim. Expektoration, MF Doom's second live album, was released on 14 September 2010 through Gold Dust Media.

Upon completing his European tour, Doom was refused entry into the United States. Regarding the case, he stated that "there's a lot of legalities" and that he was "done with the United States." Doom settled in the UK and began recording an album with fellow Lex artist Jneiro Jarel, under the moniker JJ Doom. Doom contributed two exclusive JJ Doom tracks to the Lex 10th Anniversary compilation album Complex Volume 1. The tracks were the Doom/Thom Yorke/Jonny Greenwood version of "Retarded Fren" and the Dave Sitek remix of "Rhymin Slang". They were released digitally in December 2011, and were subsequently released on vinyl on Record Store Day 2012. The JJ Doom album Key to the Kuffs was released on August 20, 2012, and included guest features from Damon Albarn, Beth Gibbons of Portishead, Khujo Goodie of Goodie Mob and Dungeon Family, and Boston Fielder. On August 19, 2013, an extended version of the album titled Key to the Kuffs (Butter Edition) was released, containing a bonus nine-track EP composed of new tracks and remixes.

In February 2013, Ghostface Killah revealed that he and Doom were in the process of choosing tracks for a collaborative album. In August 2013, Doom appeared on the Captain Murphy track "Between Villains" from the Adult Swim Singles Program 2013 as his alter-ego Viktor Vaughn. The track also featured Earl Sweatshirt and Thundercat. The project was revealed to be an album, titled NehruvianDoom, and was released on October 7, 2014.

Doom collaborated with Flying Lotus in November 2014 on the track "Masquatch", which appeared on the FlyLo FM radio station from the reissued Grand Theft Auto V. In December 2014, Ghostface Killah announced that his and Doom's long-announced collaborative album Swift & Changeable would be released in 2015. The date would later be changed to February 2016, although it has not been released.

Doom was featured on The Avalanches' single "Frankie Sinatra" alongside Danny Brown in 2016.

In August 2017, a compilation album, The Missing Notebook Rhymes, was announced, consisting of music from his upcoming projects, as well as songs from other artists that he is featured on. Each track would have been released digitally on the Adult Swim website per week over the course of fifteen weeks, however on 27 September 2017, this arrangement was canceled.

In February 2018, Doom and Czarface released "Nautical Depth", the first single from their collaborative album, Czarface Meets Metal Face. The album was released on March 30, 2018. On 18 December, Doom and Cookin' Soul released Doom Xmas, a Christmas remix album.

Doom's 2004 song "Rapp Snitch Knishes (feat. Mr. Fantastik)" achieved renewed popularity amidst the 2019 trial of Tekashi 6ix9ine.

Use of stand-ins

At times, Dumile used stand-ins to perform on his behalf. He claimed that he had lost weight and thus looked and sounded different, before his road manager admitted the use of imposters was an intentional choice by Dumile. At one show, an impostor Doom was booed off stage before being replaced by the real artist. In an interview with The New Yorker, Dumile said that he is both the writer and director and that he "might send a white dude next", adding "whoever plays the character plays the character".

In November 2019, during his performance at the Adult Swim Festival, Flying Lotus announced that he would be joined onstage by Dumile; instead, the masked figure who appeared on stage was revealed to be comedian Hannibal Buress. Dumile's involvement in the prank has not been confirmed.

Personal life and death

Dumile had lived in London since 2009. Dumile was a follower of the Nuwaubian Nation.

In December 2017, he announced on Instagram that his 14-year-old son, King Malachi Ezekiel Dumile, had died.

On 31 December 2020, his wife posted an image of Dumile on Instagram and Facebook stating that Dumile died on 31 October 2020 at the age of 49, which was later confirmed by his representative. His cause of death has not been publicly announced.

Discography

Main articles: MF Doom discography and MF Doom production discography

See also: KMD § Discography

Solo studio albums

• Operation: Doomsday (1999)
• Take Me to Your Leader (2003) (as King Geedorah)
• Vaudeville Villain (2003) (as Viktor Vaughn)
• Venomous Villain (2004) (as Viktor Vaughn)
• Mm..Food (2004)
• Born Like This (2009) (as DOOM)

External links

• MF Doom at AllMusic
• MF Doom discography at Discogs