I.This makes complex sense that we are only learning about the death of Daniel Dumile, better known as MF Doom, two months after his passing, with very little detail attached. An artist who thrived in the reflections, Dumile’s backstory was a chimera of making myths and true tragedy. Even his face was a mystery – he played for much of his career behind a metal mask, after which he used this concept to an unusual level, sending out masked impostors to wander off. half (“I’m the writer, I’m the director,” he told Ta-Nahesi Coates in New York in 2009).
Dumile was first recorded in 1989 as an 18-year-old, delivering the final verse of the classical 3rd Base hymn The Gas Face (Pete Nice’s MC poem confirms that Dumile slang titular). Dumile, who was born in London, had moved with his family to Long Island in the 70s, and was now a third of KMD ‘s three New York rappers, performing under the moniker Zev Love X with Dingilizwe’ s baby brother, AKA DJ Subroc. Their debut, Mr. Hood in 1991, celebrated the trio who deserved the golden age of rap – joyful and quiet unparalleled as the post of Native Tongues, with a stable political grip, as seen by the acerbic musician , anti-racism Who Me?
KMD’s second album was a darker, denser beast, featuring Pharoah Sanders samples and Black nationalist lyrics, but their label Elektra defied his strong title, Black Bastards, and controversial sleeve a record that saw a “Sambo” racist caricature hanging by the neck. Rejecting the record, Elektra Dumile was released from the label with a $ 25,000 payment and ownership of the major tapes. But KMD was done; shortly before Black Bastards was completed, Subroc was hit by a car and killed, and Zev Love X disappeared.
Dumile was down but did not go out, however, and – after several years in obscurity, fattening his wounds and improving his ungodly voice – he returned before the end of the decade, which accepting its final form: MF Doom. For his early appearance at the Lower East Side boho hangout of the Nuyorican Poets ’Cafe, Doom played by wearing pantyhose over his face. Soon, however, he changed this costume into his trademark mask, created after the doctor Doom nemesis Fantastic Four. The Marvel Comics evildoer made fun of his deceptive look to maintain the stillness that inspired his villainy; Meanwhile, MF Doom was wearing his catchy origin story, the title track on his debut album, Operation: Doomsday in 1999, showing his commitment to rap “until I’m on back to where my brother went ”.
Sampling Sade, superhero cartoons and Steely Dan, Operation: Doomsday was marked by triumphant, upbeat beats, while Dumile ‘s new alter ego tore at a deeper end-of-depth, his verses, crazy run, a grim and threatening comic (however, as Coates put it, “other MCs are happy with machismo; Dumile is happy with Star Trek”). Reaching underground hip-hop redefined by the likes of Wu-Tang Children, Dr. Octagon and Flow Company, Operation: Doomsday confirmed that Dumile’s time had come. Renowned by critics and fellow MCs alike, Dumile went into active time, releasing CDs of instruments (the Special Herbs series) that featured fearless ingenuity, cutting Gojira soundtracks into the horrors of Hermann-esque (Star Anis) and developing Viktor’s new aliases Vaughn and King Geedorah (the Godzilla-esque concept album, Take Me to Your Leader , one of Dumile ‘s favorites).
His collaboration with the west coast representative / MC and the right-wing spirit Madlib marked his first commercial success. Madvillain’s only album, Madvillainy in 2004, was inspired by beer, Thai food, herbs and mushrooms, and saw Doom’s verse over Madlib’s strongly stunned beats they took from the cartoons Mothers of Invention, Sun Ra and Tex Avery, leaving ruined hip-hop routines awake. Dumile rose to the occasion, his words were inspired and elastic, his flow was willing, masterful and inexplicable, cracking unsteady earrings like “threatening off the kinda beat / slid off the meaty sun ”over a Hawaiian guitar and declared itself“ the worst. God has done strange favors ”.
In fact, this dope-drenched masterpiece is perhaps the best either Madlib or Dumile album ever recorded. Riding above successfully as Quasimoto, Madlib’s performances preferred to feel for dubby, spaced-out and abstract funk, but in Dundalk he found a foil that could achieve pressure and darkness. which he did not accomplish. If such a Blunted America threatened to plunge into stoner comedy, Dumile pulled them into more intriguing, more uplifting directions, his low and rough voice, his words dripping from bursting out to staccato stabs, its lines feel steep but, on closer inspection, built up very complex and intricate. The humorous singing song and his menacing rumble gave Rainbows his moving noir, and he got a Fancy Clown story about a sad bag betrayal.
In an ego-dominated genre, Dumile remained relegated but remained in control as he broke tempos and rules. His lines were infused with black humor and mason-friendly cultural narratives, but the mind that collected them was wickedly sharp, stacking multiple verses like the power of Super Mario, and mind-boggling. meta-text. Take a look at the scarce swagger of MM .. Food’s Beef Rap, the way Dumile demonstrates the effort he puts into his work (“I wrote this note around the Year ‘Earth / Off couple picture and some beer / But who cares? / Enough about me, it’s about the blows’) times before he cuts a block of pure braggadocio (“Cannabis with a rhyme decorated to kill / It’s Chinese / Whether it’s an animal, a vegetable or a miner / It’s a miracle how it becomes so lyrical / And to go on to the people as a spiritual old Negro ”) which is good an example of the real skills he is advocating.
No Sin Sin, far Born Like This, where he fills in so many verses in a row or two that he has to do it for a bet, but the verse with “Already awakened / exploded jokes / Not much talk / Smoke is rare / People stand up when inspired / Mirror breaks ”stands as a perfect look at the sad rap-Rodney-Dangerfield shoe character. That he delivers these lines admirably only makes his bold and – let’s call it this – genius more flexible verse schemes.
Madvillainy marked Dumile ‘s first entry in the Billboard Top 200, although a promised sequel never came to fruition, Madlib suggests the ball was firmly in Doom’ s court. Instead, Dumile cut more collaborative albums with the likes of Danger Mouse, Jneiro Janel, Bishop Nehru and Czarface. There was also a final single, 2009’s Born Like This, which drew inspiration from Charles Bukowski and teamed up with Doom with the likes of Raekwon Wu Ghost and Ghostface Killah.
Dumile also showed guests on tracks with Gorillaz, the Avalanches and BadBadNotGood, along with the likes of Your Old Droog and Wilma Archer (and was working on an EP with Flying Lotus when he died). In all likelihood, his voice was always incredible: the voice of a restrained and one-of-a-kind genius in a Mingus mold who would always use his shortsightedness to steal the show , but he never seemed to try too hard, which just made his lines more effective. Its presence will be greatly felt.