MF DOOM has passed away, his wife Jasmine Dumile revealed today (Dec. 31). The elusive rapper died on October 31, according to Dumile. When Pitchfork reached him, a representative from Rhymesayers confirmed the legitimacy of the statement. A cause of death has not been disclosed. MF DOOM was 49 years old.
MF DOOM was born in London and grew up in Long Island, New York. Born Daniel Dumile, DOOM started rapping under the name Zev Love X in the group KMD in the late 1980s, along with his younger brother DJ Subroc. KMD has released two albums: 1991’s Mr. Hood and 1993’s Black Bastards. DJ Subroc was hit by a car and arrived shortly before the release of Black Bastards, marking the end of KMD until DOOM shared an unreleased track in 2017, “True Lightyears”.
Towards the end of the 90s, Dumile took over his MF DOOM character and wore the mask of Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom. He released his self-produced debut Operation: Doomsday in April 1999, the start of a prolific series of albums and production. He let go of the split MF EP with MF Grimm in 2000, before adopting two new personae for a pair of historic 2003 releases: King Geedorah for Take me to your leader and Viktor Vaughn for Vaudeville Villain.
DOOM discussed its decision to wear the mask and persona in 2009 New Yorker interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates. “I wanted to go on stage and lecture, without people thinking about the normal things people think about. Like girls who say, ‘Oh, he’s sexy’ or ‘I don’t want him, he’s ugly,’ and then other guys pick you up, ‘he said. “A visual always gives a first impression. But if there is a first impression, I can just as well use it to control the story. So why not do something like put on a mask? “
In March 2004, MF DOOM released its most iconic album: the Madlib Collaboration Madvillainy. They started working on the album in 2002, combing through hundreds of beats and samples. The final product is a landmark of underground rap, combining DOOM’s free associative excellence with Madlib’s eclectic beats.
In 2004 alone, DOOM also released Venomous Villain (VV: 2), MM..Food, and several Special herbs instrumental albums. 2005 brought the Live from planet X. album and another full length joint, The mouse and the mask, made with Danger Mouse.
After the hyper-productive half-decade, DOOM’s output slowed significantly. To be Special herbs series, which began in 2001, ended in 2005. He also released smaller projects, such as the Danger Mouse addendum Occult hymn EP, before releasing his last solo album, Born that way, in 2009.
DOOM also had a history of being charged with sending masked cheaters to lip sync in its place on shows. “Everything we do is villain style,” explained DOOM Rolling stone in 2009.
DOOM output remained sporadic throughout the 2010s. He mainly showed up for collaborative projects such as 2014 Nehruvian DOOM with Bishop Nehru, Czarface Meets Metal Face, and the 2017 WESTSIDEDOOM 12 “with Westside Gunn. He played shows and released one-off singles with Ghostface, they called their project DOOMSTARKS. In 2013 he appeared on Flying Lotus’ Captain Murphy song ‘Between Villains’, alongside Earl Sweatshirt and Thundercat.
This month, DOOM was on a new song with BADBADNOTGOOD called “The Chocolate Conquistadors.” There was no mention of the release of DOOM’s death.
Read Pitchfork’s article “Searching for Tomorrow: The Story of Madlib and MF DOOM’s Madvillainy. “
This article was originally published Thursday, December 31 at 5:03 PM Eastern. It was last updated on December 31 at 5:33 PM Eastern.