MF Doom | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dumile at theHultsfred Festival in 2011 | |
| Born | Dumile Daniel Thompson (1971-07-13)July 13, 1971 London, England |
| Died | October 31, 2020(2020-10-31) (aged 49) Leeds, England |
| Other names |
|
| Spouse | Jasmine Dumile |
| Children | 5 |
| Relatives | DJ Subroc (brother) |
| Musical career | |
| Origin | Long Beach, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Works | |
| Years active |
|
| Labels | |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | gasdrawls.com |
Musical artist | |
| Signature | |
 | |
Daniel Dumile[a] (/ˈduːməleɪ/DOO-mə-lay; bornDumile Daniel Thompson; July 13, 1971 – October 31, 2020), also known by his stage nameMF Doom or simplyDoom (both mostly stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and "supervillain" stage persona, he became a major figure ofunderground hip hop andalternative hip hop in the 2000s.[2][3]
Dumile was born in London and raised inLong Beach, New York. He began his career in 1988 as a member of the trioKMD, performing asZev Love X. The group disbanded in 1993 after the death ofDJ Subroc, Dumile's brother. After a hiatus, Dumile reemerged in the late 1990s. He began performing atopen mic events while wearing a metal mask resembling that of theMarvel Comics supervillainDoctor Doom, who is depicted on the cover of his 1999 debut solo albumOperation: Doomsday. He adopted the MF Doom persona and rarely made unmasked public appearances thereafter.
During Dumile's most prolific period, the early to mid-2000s, he released the acclaimedMm..Food (2004) as MF Doom, as well as albums released under the pseudonymsKing Geedorah andViktor Vaughn.Madvillainy (2004), recorded with the producerMadlib under the nameMadvillain, is often cited as Dumile'smagnum opus and is regarded as a landmark album in hip hop.[4]Madvillainy was followed by another acclaimed collaboration,The Mouse and the Mask (2005), with the producerDanger Mouse, released under the nameDanger Doom.
Though he lived most of his life in the United States, Dumile never gained American citizenship. In 2010, he was denied reentry after returning from an international tour for his sixth and final solo album,Born Like This (2009). He moved to London before settling inLeeds and worked mostly in collaboration with other artists during his final years, releasing albums withJneiro Jarel (asJJ Doom),Bishop Nehru (NehruvianDoom), andCzarface (Czarface Meets Metal Face, and the posthumousSuper What?). In 2020, he died in a Leeds hospital fromangioedema following a reaction to ablood pressure medication. After his death,Variety described him as one of hip hop's "most celebrated, unpredictable and enigmatic figures".[5]
Daniel Dumile was born Dumile Daniel Thompson inHounslow, London, on July 13, 1971,[1][6][7] the son of a Trinidadian mother and Zimbabwean father.[3][8] He said he was conceived in the United States, where his parents lived, and was born in London when his mother was visiting family.[9] He had four younger siblings, including the rapperDJ Subroc (1973–1993), with whom he formed the rap groupKMD until Subroc was struck and killed by a car at the age of 19.[10]
As a child, Dumile moved with his family toLong Beach, New York,[11] where he grew up in ablack nationalistMuslim household as part of theFive-Percent Nation.[12] He said he had no memory of his London childhood and defined himself as a "New York nigga",[9] but remained a British citizen his entire life and never gained American citizenship.[13] He began DJing during third grade.[14][15] As a child, he was a fan and collector of comic books and earned the nickname "Doom" (a phonetic play on the name Dumile) among friends and family.[16][17]
Under the name Zev Love X,[18] Dumile formed the hip hop groupKMD in 1988 with his younger brotherDJ Subroc and Rodan, who was later replaced by Onyx the Birthstone Kid.[19]A&R representative Dante Ross learned of KMD through the hip hop group3rd Bass and signed them toElektra Records.[20] Their recording debut came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" onThe Cactus Album,[19] followed in 1991 by their debut albumMr. Hood. Dumile performed the last verse on "The Gas Face"; according toPete Nice's verse on the track, Dumile created the phrase.[21]
On April 23, 1993, just before the release of the second KMD album,Black Bastards,[19] Subroc was struck by a car and killed while crossing theLong Island Expressway.[22][23] Dumile completed the album alone over the course of several months, and it was announced with a release date of May 3, 1994.[24] KMD was dropped by Elektra and the album went unreleased due to its controversial cover art,[20] which featured a cartoon of a stereotypicalpickaninny orsambo character being hanged.[25]
After his brother's death, Dumile retreated from the hip hop scene from 1994 to 1997, living "damn near homeless, walking the streets ofManhattan, sleeping on benches".[12] In the late 1990s, he settled inAtlanta; he had moved to Georgia in the mid-90s.[1] According to Dumile, he was "recovering from his wounds" and vowing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him".[19]Black Bastards had beenbootlegged by that time,[25] but was not officially released until 2000.[26]
In 1997 or 1998,[b] Dumile began freestyling incognito atopen-mic events at theNuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan, obscuring his face by putting tights over his head.[6][27] He turned this into a new identity, MF Doom, with a mask similar to that ofMarvel Comics supervillainDoctor Doom.[28] He later adopted a mask based on the one worn by Maximus, the protagonist of the 2000 filmGladiator.[29]
Bobbito Garcia'sFondle 'Em Records releasedOperation: Doomsday, Dumile's first full-lengthLP as MF Doom, in 1999.[30][31] Dumile's collaborators onOperation: Doomsday included fellow members of theMonsta Island Czars collective, for which each artist took on the persona of a monster from theGodzilla films. Dumile went by the alias "King Geedorah",[c] a three-headed golden dragon space monster modeled afterKing Ghidorah.[34] The album's productions sampled cartoons includingFantastic Four, something that became a staple of his music later on.[31]Jon Caramanica, in a review ofOperation: Doomsday forSpin, emphasized the contrast between Dumile'sflow as Zev Love X in KMD and his revised approach as a solo artist: "Doom's flow is muddy, nowhere near the sprightly rhymes of KMD's early days, and his thought process is haphazard."[30] Caramanica revisitedOperation: Doomsday inThe New York Times in 2021, calling it "one of the most idiosyncratic hip-hop albums of the 1990s, and one of the defining documents of the independent hip-hop explosion of that decade".[35] Cyril Cordor, in a review forAllMusic, describedOperation: Doomsday as Dumile's "rawest" lyrical effort.[36]
In 2001, Dumile began releasing hisSpecial Herbs instrumentals series under the pseudonym Metal Fingers.[37][38] In a review of a 2011 box set containing ten volumes of theSpecial Herbs series,Pitchfork observed that the instrumentals stand on their own without vocal tracks: "most of these tracks sound plenty 'finished' even in rhyme-less form".[38]
In 2003, Dumile released the albumTake Me to Your Leader under his King Geedorah moniker.[39][40] InPitchfork, Mark Martelli describedTake Me to Your Leader as close to aconcept album, noting how it lays out the "mythos" of the eponymous King Geedorah.[39] Martelli praised the album, particularly tracks such as "One Smart Nigger" which, in his view, were superior to other artists' attempts atpolitical hip hop.[39]Fact, in a brief notice for a 2013reissue ofTake Me to Your Leader, called it "arguably the most cinematic" of Dumile's albums from the turn of the 21st century.[41] Later in 2003, Dumile released the LPVaudeville Villain under the moniker Viktor Vaughn (another play on Doctor Doom, who is also known as Victor von Doom).NME described the Viktor Vaughn persona as "a time travelling street hustler".[42]Pitchfork namedVaudeville Villain the week's best new album and highlighted its lyricism, writing that Dumile was one of the best writers in rap.[43][44]
Dumile's breakthrough came in 2004 with the albumMadvillainy, created with producerMadlib under the group nameMadvillain.[45] They recorded the album in a series of sessions over two years before a commercial release on March 23, 2004.[46]Madvillainy was a critical and commercial success,[17] and has since become known as Dumile's masterpiece.[47] Also in 2004, Dumile releasedVV:2, a follow-up LP under the Viktor Vaughn moniker.Nathan Rabin noted inThe A.V. Club thatVV:2, coming as it did after the commercial and critical success ofMadvillainy, represented an unusual career choice for Dumile whereby he went "deeper underground" instead of embracing wider fame.[48]
Later in 2004, the second MF Doom albumMm..Food was released byRhymesayers Entertainment.[47]Pitchfork gave the album a positive review.[49] Nathan Rabin described it as a "crazy pastiche" but argued that it grew more coherent on repeated listening. Around this time, he also appeared in a voice role in theAdult Swim animated seriesPerfect Hair Forever as Sherman thegiraffe.
Although still an independent artist, Dumile took a bigger step towards the mainstream in 2005 withThe Mouse and the Mask, a collaboration with the producerDJ Danger Mouse under the group nameDanger Doom. The album, released on October 11, 2005, byEpitaph andLex, was developed in collaboration withCartoon Network'sAdult Swim and featured voice actors and characters from its programs (mostlyAqua Teen Hunger Force).The Mouse and the Mask reached No. 41 on theBillboard 200.[50] Critic Chris Vognar, discussing the role of comedy in hip hop, argued that "Doom and Danger exemplify an absurdist strain in recent independent hip-hop, a willingness to embrace the nerdy without a heavy cloak of irony".[51][52] In the same year, Dumile appeared on the secondGorillaz album,Demon Days.[6]
Dumile produced tracks for both ofGhostface Killah's 2006 albumsFishscale[53] andMore Fish.[54] In February 2013, Ghostface Killah said that he and Dumile were in the process of choosing tracks for a collaborative album.[55] In 2015, Ghostface Killah announced that the album,Swift & Changeable, would be released in 2016, and later posted promotional artwork for the collaboration.[56][57][58] It remains unreleased.
Dumile'sBorn Like This was released on Lex Records on March 24, 2009. The album was Dumile's first solo album to chart in the US.[59] In a largely favorable review forPitchfork, Nate Patrin cast the album as a return to form for Dumile, following a period of limited output.[60] He observed that Dumile's lyrics and flow—"a focused rasp that's subtly grown slightly more ragged and intense"—were darker than on earlier records.[60] He also highlighted the overtly homophobic "Batty Boyz", adiss track against unnamed rappers.[60] Steve Yates, reviewing the album inThe Guardian, likewise sawBorn Like This as hearkening back to Dumile's earlier output.[61] Yates felt it presented Dumile at "his scalpel-tongued, scatter-mouthed best".[61] Both Patrin and Yates noted the influence ofCharles Bukowski onBorn Like This: the first line of Bukowski's poem "Dinosauria, We" gives the album its title.[60][61]
In early 2010, Dumile released the EPGazzillion Ear on Lex, a compilation of remixes of "Gazzillion Ear" fromBorn Like This, including a remix byThom Yorke and two mixes byJneiro Jarel.[62] A further remix by Madvillain featuring a voicemail message fromKanye West was released online.[63] The EP coincided with Dumile's first performances outside North America. On March 5, 2010, Lex andSónar presented the first Doom show in London, at theRoundhouse in Camden.[64]Expektoration, Dumile's second live album, was released on September 14, 2010, through Gold Dust.[65] In a review ofExpektoration,Pitchfork noted that Dumile's vocal performance was more energetic than on his recordings, which it characterized as "laidback" by comparison.[66]
After completing his European tour, Dumile was refused re-entry into the United States.[67][68] He settled in the UK in 2010.[69]Key to the Kuffs, an album Dumile made in collaboration with the producerJneiro Jarel asJJ Doom, was released on August 20, 2012, and included guest features fromDamon Albarn,Beth Gibbons of Portishead,Khujo Goodie ofGoodie Mob andDungeon Family, and Boston Fielder.[70] Reviews ofKey to the Kuffs inPitchfork andFact emphasized its references to Dumile's "exile" in the United Kingdom,[71][72] whileResident Advisor noted its play on Britishisms in tracks like "Guv'nor".[73]
NehruvianDoom, Dumile's collaboration with the rapperBishop Nehru, was released on October 7, 2014.[74] Dumile produced all the tracks onNehruvianDoom, often using beats developed in theSpecial Herbs series; vocals are primarily Nehru's, with some contributions from Dumile.[75] The album was Nehru's major label debut.[76] The limitations of Nehru's artistic achievement on the album were stressed by critics due to his relative youth (he was still in his teens when the album was produced) and the album's briefness, lasting just over 30 minutes.[76][77] Dumile's contributions were also seen as limited:Pitchfork wrote that he often seemed on "autopilot",[75] andXXL suggested that neither he nor Nehru were able to "push the envelope".[77]
In August 2017, Adult Swim announced a Doom compilation,The Missing Notebook Rhymes, that would consist of songs from his upcoming projects and featured appearances on other artists' songs. The Adult Swim website was to release one new song per week over the course of 15 weeks.[78] However, the arrangement was canceled in September after the release of only seven tracks.[79]
In February 2018, Dumile andCzarface released "Nautical Depth", the first single from their collaborative albumCzarface Meets Metal Face.[80] The album was released on March 30, 2018. In a lukewarm review forPitchfork, Mehan Jayasuriya compared verses byOpen Mike Eagle favorably to Dumile's, but noted that Dumile's contribution to "Nautical Depth" exhibited his "once razor-sharp lyricism".[81] Ben Beaumont-Thomas, inThe Guardian, was more positive, noting Dumile's "stoner surrealism" in "Captain Crunch".[82]
Aside from the album with Czarface, Dumile's musical output in the final three years of his life was limited to one-off guest appearances on other artists' tracks.[83] Posthumous releases included appearances on two songs for the video gameGrand Theft Auto Online: "Lunch Break", withFlying Lotus;[84] and "The Chocolate Conquistadors", withBadBadNotGood, made for the game's content updateThe Cayo Perico Heist.[85] Shortly after Dumile's death was announced, Flying Lotus revealed that they had been working on an EP.[86] Dumile's second album with Czarface,Super What?, was released in May 2021. It was completed in early 2020 but delayed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[87]
In January 2021, theStones Throw Records founderPeanut Butter Wolf said that Dumile had been recordingMadvillainy 2 at the time of his death.[88] Dumile and Madlib began working on it shortly afterMadvillainy's release, but Dumile would only record a few times a year;[89] by the time of his death, Dumile estimated it was "85% done".[88] Peanut Butter Wolf said he had permission from Dumile's family to release 11 songs Dumile submitted in 2009, though he was unsure if he would.[88] In April 2023, Madlib said he planned to finishMadvillainy 2.[89]
.jpg)
Dumile's lyrics are known forwordplay.[90][91] Bradley and DuBois, describing Dumile as "among the most enigmatic figures in hip-hop", wrote that Dumile's "raspy baritone weaves an intricate web of allusions drawn from comic books and metaphysics along with seeming nonsense and non sequiturs".[26] According to an obituary inThe Ringer, hisflow was "loose and conversational, but delivered with technical precision", and his use of rhyme and meter eclipsed that ofBig Pun andEminem.[83] Dumile's production work frequently incorporated samples and quotations from film.[90][91] A review ofSpecial Herbs volumes 5 and 6 inCMJ New Music Monthly compared Dumile's beats to "soul jazz".[92]
Dumile created the MF Doom character as analter ego with a backstory he could reference in his music.[93] The character combines elements from theMarvel Comics supervillainDoctor Doom,Destro, and thePhantom of the Opera;[94] like Doctor Doom and Phantom, Dumilereferred to himself in the third person while in character.[95] His signature mask was similar to that of Doctor Doom,[28] who is depicted rapping on the cover of Dumile's 1999 debut albumOperation: Doomsday.[96]
Dumile wore the mask while performing, and would not be photographed without it, except for short glimpses in videos and in earlier photos with KMD.[97] Later versions of the mask were based on a prop from the 2000 filmGladiator.[98] Academic Hershini Bhana Young argued 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".[28]
Dumile sometimes sent stand-ins to perform in the mask, which he saw as a "logical extension" of the concept but angered audiences.[93] Dumile initially claimed that he had lost weight and thus looked and sounded different.[99] At a 2010 show in Toronto, an imposter was booed off stage before being replaced by Dumile.[100] In an interview withThe New Yorker, Dumile described himself as the "writer and director" of the character and that he "might send a white dude next ... Whoever plays the character plays the character."[93]
In November 2019, during his performance at theAdult Swim Festival, the electronic artistFlying Lotus announced that he would be joined onstage by Dumile. Instead, the masked figure who appeared on stage was revealed as the comedianHannibal Buress. Dumile's involvement in the prank was not confirmed.[101]
Dumile was celebrated in independent hip hop.[5][102] After his death, the producer Flying Lotus wrote ofMadvillainy: "All u ever needed in hip-hop was this record. Sorted. Done. Give it to the fucking aliens."[102] The English musicianThom Yorke, who twice collaborated with Dumile, wrote: "He was a massive inspiration to so many of us, changed things... For me the way he put words was often shocking in its genius, usingstream of consciousness in a way I'd never heard before."[103]Stereogum, reviewingOperation: Doomsday on its 20th anniversary, noted Dumile's "formative" influence on younger rappers.[94]El-P ofRun the Jewels described him as a "writer's writer",[104] whileQ-Tip called him "your favorite rapper's favorite rapper".[105] A biography by S.H. Fernando,The Chronicles of Doom: Unraveling Rap's Masked Iconoclast, was released on October 29, 2024.[106]
Dumile was married to his wife, Jasmine, for an unknown period until his death in October 2020. They had five children together.[107] In late 2017, his son Malachi died from unspecified causes at the age of 14.[108]
Dumile's worldview was informed by Islam and theAfrocentrism espoused byAfrican-American Muslims. His parents raised him and his brother as Muslims in theFive-Percent Nation, a religiousblack nationalist movement influenced by Islam.[12] Dumile's father taught him aboutpan-African history, including historical figures such asMarcus Garvey andElijah Muhammad, which he strove to impart on his peers.[109]
By the early 1990s, Dumile and the other members of KMD identified as a member of the Ansaar Allah Community, later known as theNuwaubian Nation.[110] In their music, the members of KMD professed a religious message based on tenets of Nuwaubianism, which Dumile distinguished from Five-Percent beliefs in an early interview.[111] In the music video for "Peachfuzz", Dumile and the other members of KMD wearkufi caps.[112] By 2000, though he was no longer as strictly observant, Dumile still participated in Nuwaubian events such as the Savior's Day celebration at theTama-Re compound in Georgia and held a positive opinion of the community.[113]
Although Dumile lived in the United States for most of his life, he never gained citizenship and remained solely a British citizen.[68][114] He acquired a British passport prior to his 2010 European tour, and was refused re-entry to the United States after completing the tour later that year.[115] It was only his second international tour, and he had previously avoided leaving the United States; he had believed he would be able to secure re-entry based on hislong-term residency and family connections.[115] The denial of re-entry forced him apart from his wife and children, and for nearly two years,he saw them only via video calls or during their brief visits to the United Kingdom. His family moved to London in 2012,[3] after which he declared himself "done with the United States".[115] He spent years living inYorkshire,[116] and was living inLeeds at the time of his death.[107]
In October 2020, Dumile was admitted toSt James's University Hospital inLeeds with respiratory problems.[117] On October 31, he died fromangioedema, an adverse reaction toblood pressure medication he had recently been prescribed. He had suffered fromhigh blood pressure andkidney disease.[117] Due to theCOVID-19 lockdown, his wife, Jasmine, was not allowed to visit him in the hospital until the day of his death.[117] His death was unknown to the public for two months until Jasmine announced it on December 31.[118] The cause of death was not revealed until July 2023.[117]
Dumile's family criticized his medical treatment. Jasmine said hisnurse call button was placed out of reach and that hospital staff had failed to check on him frequently. Dumile's lawyers said it had taken them two hours to medicate his swollen throat, a symptom of angioedema.[119] An inquest by theLeeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust found that the hospital's care plan was not sufficiently detailed and that doctors were misled when Dumile's health appeared to improve. Dr. Hamish McLure, the chief medical officer of the trust, released an apology, saying Dumile's treatment had been substandard.[120]
Many musicians paid tribute to Dumile.[121][122] His 2004 instrumental track "Coffin Nails" was included on U.S. presidentJoe Biden'sinauguration playlist in January 2021,[123] which was criticized by fans of Dumile, as Biden was thevice president in 2010 when Dumile was refused re-entry to the United States.[124]
KMD studio albums
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
Media from Commons
Quotations from Wikiquote
Data from Wikidata
