MF DOOM

Origins

Daniel Dumile was born on July 13, 1971, in Hounslow, London, and moved with his family to Long Beach, New York, as a child. As Zev Love X he formed KMD with his younger brother DJ Subroc, and the trio signed to Elektra, releasing Mr. Hood in 1991. In 1993 Subroc was killed by a car on the Long Island Expressway, and around the same time Elektra dropped the group and shelved its second album, Black Bastards.

The Mask

After years away from the spotlight, Dumile began appearing at open mics in Manhattan, including the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, around 1997 and 1998 with his face covered. He soon took on the metal-faced MF DOOM persona, a villain modeled on Marvel's Doctor Doom, and refused to be photographed without the mask. His solo debut, Operation: Doomsday, came out on Fondle 'Em in 1999, full of cartoon samples, twisted wordplay and his own production.

Peak Years and Nature Sounds

The 2000s were astonishingly prolific. He recorded as King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn and issued beat tapes as Metal Fingers, including Special Herbs, Vol. 4 (2003) and Special Herbs, Vol. 5 & 6 (2004) on Nature Sounds. With Madlib he formed Madvillain, whose Madvillainy (Stones Throw, 2004), fronted by the animated "All Caps" video, is widely ranked among the best underground rap albums ever made. Mm..Food followed later that year on Rhymesayers, and Nature Sounds released the concert album Live from Planet X in 2005. He also produced for Masta Killa's Made in Brooklyn and teamed with Danger Mouse for The Mouse and the Mask (2005).

Later work included Born Like This (Lex, 2009), the Ghostface Killah EP Victory Laps (Nature Sounds, 2011), Key to the Kuffs as JJ DOOM (2012) and collaborations with Czarface. After a 2010 European tour he was refused re-entry to the United States and settled in Britain.

Legacy

Dumile died on October 31, 2020, in Leeds; his family announced his death on December 31 of that year. Tributes poured in from across music, with Q-Tip calling him your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. His internal rhymes, villain mythology and do-it-yourself output shaped a generation of underground artists, and in 2024 "Hoe Cakes" and "One Beer" were certified gold, proof that his audience only kept growing.