MF DOOM was Daniel Dumile, the masked London-born, New York-raised rapper and producer who ruled underground hip hop until his death in 2020. Madvillainy (2004, with Madlib) is one of the great hip hop albums of the 2000s; Operation: Doomsday (1999) and MM..FOOD (2004) run close behind. Browse MF DOOM vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Daniel Dumile was born in London, England on July 13, 1971 to a Trinidadian father and Zimbabwean mother, and raised in Long Beach, New York. He was a member of KMD (with his brother DJ Subroc) before his brother's death in a car accident in 1993 and the band's subsequent commercial troubles around their album Black Bastards (recorded 1993, finally released 2001). He retreated from the public eye for several years before launching the MF DOOM persona in 1997 with the iconic metal Doctor Doom-styled mask. His landmark Operation: Doomsday (1999) and the body of subsequent alias work (King Geedorah, Viktor Vaughn, Madvillain) established him as one of the most important figures in underground hip hop. His 2004 collaboration with Madlib as Madvillain (Madvillainy) is widely cited as one of the most important hip hop albums of the 2000s. He died on October 31, 2020 in Leeds, England at age 49 (his death was publicly announced by his wife Jasmine on December 31, 2020). His foundational influence on contemporary hip hop is widely cited.
MF DOOM's sound combines hip hop, alternative hip hop, underground hip hop, abstract hip hop, jazz rap, and conscious hip hop with his distinctive monotone vocal delivery, virtuosic internal-rhyme-heavy lyrical approach, and lyrical content drawing on comic book villainy, surrealism, wordplay, and obscure literary and pop culture reference points. His foundational influence on contemporary alternative and underground hip hop is widely documented.
Fondle 'Em, Sub Verse, Lex, Stones Throw, Rhymesayers, Nature Sounds, and Metal Face pressings of the MF DOOM catalog have been issued in extensive color variant editions and elaborate limited deluxe pressings, with collector demand. Original masks and bootleg releases are widely collected.
Listeners new to MF DOOM typically start with Madvillainy (2004) or Operation: Doomsday (1999).
