MF Doom

Widely celebrated among hip-hop enthusiasts as one of the genre's cherished anti-heroes, the resourceful MF Doom—frequently styled simply as DOOM in capital letters—garnered broad acclaim for both his incisive and forthright rhymes and his jagged, sample-saturated production approach. First recognized under the name Zev Love X as part of the short-lived yet impactful Golden Age collective K.M.D., the MC and producer born Daniel Dumile resurfaced toward the close of the 1990s with a character and emblem modeled after the Marvel Comics antagonist Dr. Doom. He cultivated his mysterious image by wearing an ornate metal mask at every public appearance while sometimes enlisting proxies to handle his live shows. Though only a limited number of proper albums appeared under his primary alias, among them Operation: Doomsday (1999), Mm..Food (2004), and Born Like This (2009), his overall output proved vast, encompassing many joint projects—most prominently Madvillainy with Madlib, along with releases alongside Danger Mouse and Czarface—plus beat-driven collections and material issued via alternate personas. A major force within underground hip-hop, Doom reached wider listeners chiefly through work with the animated pop outfit Gorillaz and repeated placements on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block.

Originating in London to a mother from Trinidad and a father from Zimbabwe, Dumile relocated with his family to Long Island, New York, during childhood. He established K.M.D. alongside his younger brother, DJ Sub-Roc, in 1988, and the crew debuted on record with "The Gas Face," the successful single from the hip-hop trio 3rd Bass. K.M.D. secured a deal with Elektra Records, which issued the group's debut album, Mr. Hood, in 1991. Aligning with a brief wave of Islamic Five Percent Nation rap projects that also included efforts from acts such as Poor Righteous Teachers and Elektra labelmates Brand Nubian, the record achieved modest traction thanks to video rotation on MTV and BET. Tragedy struck when Sub-Roc suffered a fatal accident in 1993 after being hit by a vehicle, prompting Elektra to shelve the follow-up album, the more intense and politically charged Bl_ck B_st_rds, whose provocative cover art alone—a cartoon figure resembling Little Black Sambo being hanged—effectively terminated the group's contract.

While the shelved project circulated widely through unofficial channels and Zev Love X's reputation expanded, Dumile spent five years out of the spotlight, "recovering from his wounds" and vowing retribution "against the industry that so badly deformed him," as stated in his official biography, itself an adaptation of Dr. Doom's backstory. Few initially realized that the rapper appearing at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1997, freestyling beneath a stocking mask, was the same artist. He ultimately dispelled the secrecy in 1999 by returning as MF Doom and quickly delivering the well-received Operation: Doomsday on the independent Fondle 'Em Records. The next year brought the official version of Bl_ck B_st_rds (retaining its controversial artwork), several singles, and an EP with MF Grimm. SubVerse reissued both Operation: Doomsday and Bl_ck B_st_rds in 2001.

Although numerous bootlegs, guest spots, mixtapes, and instrumental sets—including the DJ-favored Special Herbs series—emerged in subsequent years, the next proper album under the Doom name did not surface until he unveiled the King Geedorah persona with Take Me To Your Leader in 2003. That project was soon followed by Vaudeville Villain, issued under the Viktor Vaughn alias. The partnership with versatile producer Madlib formed the duo Madvillain, whose April 2004 album Madvillainy earned enthusiastic notices and later ranked among the decade's most praised hip-hop releases. Venomous Villain revived the Viktor Vaughn character four months afterward, while the second MF Doom album, Mm..Food, arrived in November. The previously promotional-only Live from Planet X received a commercial release in March 2005, succeeded by Special Herbs, Vols. 9-10 in July. By year's end, The Mouse and the Mask, the Danger Mouse collaboration billed as Danger Doom, appeared via Adult Swim; guest spots from several network cartoon characters helped the set achieve both critical and commercial success, reaching the upper half of the Billboard 200.

Prior to the arrival of his subsequent studio album, 2009's Born Like This, the rapper adopted the shortened DOOM spelling and worked with Ghostface and Raekwon, both of whom contributed to the record. Unexpected Guests, a compilation of his outside guest appearances, closed the year. The live set Expektoration and the Gazzillion Ear EP, featuring remixes by Radiohead's Thom Yorke and MC/producer Jneiro Jarel, followed in 2010. After being refused re-entry to the United States following a tour, Dumile relocated to the U.K., his birthplace. He formed JJ DOOM with Jarel, and their debut, Key to the Kuffs, surfaced in 2012 with contributions from Beth Gibbons of Portishead and Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz. A subsequent alliance with Bishop Nehru under the NehruvianDoom name yielded a self-titled album in 2014.

DOOM then appeared on tracks by Kool Keith, the Avalanches, and BadBadNotGood, while reuniting with Madlib for the 2016 single "Avalanche." Adult Swim revealed The Missing Notebook Rhymes in August 2017, a digital collection of unreleased DOOM material slated for weekly drops over three months, yet the network severed ties with the artist in late September, canceling the effort. The 2018 full-length collaboration with hip-hop supergroup Czarface—comprising Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck and 7L & Esoteric—arrived via Get On Down as Czarface Meets Metal Face. DOOM and veteran DJ Muggs also paired for two tracks issued as MUGGS X DOOM. Over the following two years he lent support to releases by Your Old Droog, Wilma Archer, and Bishop Nehru. MF Doom passed away on October 31, 2020, at age 49; his family withheld public announcement for two months. "The Chocolate Conquistadors," a previously recorded collaboration with BadBadNotGood created for Grand Theft Auto Online, emerged in December. Super What?, the second joint project with Czarface, followed in May 2021.