Daniel Dumile (pronounced /duːməleɪ/) is a British-born American hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM (now simply known as DOOM) , where the "MF" stands for Metal Face or Metal Fingers. He has also been known as Viktor Vaughn, Zev Love X, King Geedorah, Metal Fingers, and the Supervillain. He has appeared in several collaborative projects such as Danger Doom (with Danger Mouse) and Madvillain (with Madlib). He is one of the most prolific and critically acclaimed hip hop artists of the 2000s . [edit] Early years with KMD
Dumile was born 1971 or 1972 in London, England, the son of a Trinidadian mother and Zimbabwean father.[1]. He then moved with his family to New York and was raised on Long Island, New York.
As Zev Love X, he formed the group KMD with his younger brother DJ Subroc and another MC called Onyx the Birthstone Kid.[1] A&R rep Dante Ross learned of KMD from the hip hop group 3rd Bass, and signed the group to Elektra Records.[2]
Dumile and KMD's debut on record came on 3rd Bass's song "The Gas Face" from The Cactus Album[1], followed in 1991 with KMD's album Mr. Hood, which became a minor hit through its singles "Peachfuzz," "Who Me?" and heavy video play on cable TV's Yo! MTV Raps and Rap City.
Subroc was struck and killed by a car in 1993 while attempting to cross a Long Island expressway before the release of a second KMD album, titled Black Bastards.[1] The group was subsequently dropped from Elektra Records that same week. Before the release of the album, it was shelved due to controversy over the its cover art,[2] which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny or sambo character being hanged from the gallows.
With the loss of his brother, Dumile retreated from the hip-hop scene from 1994 to 1997. He testifies to disillusionment and depression, living "damn near homeless, walking the streets of Manhattan, sleeping on benches."[1][3] In the late 1990s, he left New York City and settled in Atlanta. According to interviews with Doom, he was also "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him."[1] Black Bastards had become bootlegged at the time, leading to Doom's rise in the underground hip-hop world.
[edit] Birth of MF Doom
Dumile began to rap at open mic events at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1998 where he obscured his face by putting a stocking over his head. His new identity was influenced by Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Doom. He wears the mask while performing and isn't photographed without it, except for very short glimpses in videos such as Viktor Vaughn's "Mr. Clean" and in earlier photos with KMD[1]
The release of Operation: Doomsday in 1998 by independent label Fondle 'Em marked the official turning point for Dumile in his reinvention of himself from a major label recording artist of minor status to independent artist, where he would find his greatest success. In 2000, Doom released his first collaboration with MF Grimm, entitled MF EP. Since then, the MF's have begun a bitter feud.[citation needed] The feud has expanded to MF Grimm's executive producer, Adam Olis.
[edit] Mainstream recognition
Doom's first commercial breakthrough came in 2004, with the album Madvillainy together with producer Madlib under the group name Madvillain. Released by Stones Throw Records, the album was a critical and commercial success. MF Doom was seen by mainstream audiences for the first time as Madvillain received publicity and acclaim in publications such as Rolling Stone, New York Times, The New Yorker, and Spin. A video for "All Caps" and a four-date U.S. tour followed the release of Madvillainy. Additional videos for "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Accordion," both directed by Andrew Gura, were released on the DVDs Stones Throw 101 and "Stones Throw 102: In Living the True Gods," respectively.
In the same year, MF Doom's second solo album MM..Food was released by the Minnesota-based label Rhymesayers Entertainment. As Viktor Vaughn (another play on Doctor Doom, whose "real name" is Victor von Doom) he has released two albums Vaudeville Villain & Venomous Villain (also called VV2). Another alias MF Doom has taken character as, is a three-headed space monster called King Geedorah, which plays on the name by the Godzilla monster "King Ghidorah". In the disguise of this alien figure, he's done the album Take Me to Your Leader where he mainly plays the role as a producer only appearing on a couple of songs.
Though still an independent artist, MF Doom took a bigger step towards the mainstream in 2005 with The Mouse and the Mask, a collaboration with producer DJ Danger Mouse under the group name Danger Doom. The album, released on October 11, 2005 by Epitaph, was done in cooperation with Cartoon Network's [adult swim] and frequently references characters from its programs (mostly Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Doom also made an appearance in "November Has Come," a track on Gorillaz's 2005 album Demon Days. In 2006 Doom hosted the [adult swim] Christmas special and he could be seen in between shows, usually talking about what was up next, and making jokes.
[edit] Current and upcoming projects
MF Doom produced tracks for both of Ghostface Killah's 2006 albums, Fishscale and More Fish; and the two are currently at work on a collaboration album entitled Swift & Changeable. So far only one track has been released from the album, "Angels", which appeared on a Nature Sounds compilation in late 2006. Doom has also revealed plans for a second Madvillain album with producer Madlib, with one song, "Monkey Suite", first appearing on the Adult Swim/Stones Throw Records album Chrome Children. Other potential projects mentioned by Doom include new albums from Danger Doom[4], The John Robinson Project and KMD, as well as further albums under both his Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah aliases. However, many such Doom projects have been rumored in recent years without materializing.
Despite no new Doom releases in 2006, Kidrobot and Stones Throw released an 8" tall Madvillain toy available to coincide with the release of the Chrome Children CD/DVD (hosted by Peanut Butter Wolf) which featured a DVD performance of Madvillain and several other Stones Throw artists. MF Doom also continued to work with [adult swim] doing voice-over work as Sherman the Giraffe on Perfect Hair Forever, being the voice for The Boondocks ads and previews and hosting their Christmas Eve 2006 programming.
MM..Food was reissued under the Rhymesayers label on July 24, 2007 as a special edition CD & DVD package.
MF Doom will also be in production on the second album of past collaborator Kurious which is due early 2008. He has also made an appearance on Stones Throw's B-Ball Zombie War on a track called "Mash's Revenge" along with Guilty Simpson and the late J Dilla. Lately, Doom has co-won a mtvU Woodie Award with Madlib in the category Left Field Woodie for Madvillain's "Monkey Suite" video. A track was also released by Stones Throw through digital download on June 2008 entitled "Sniper Elite", it is part of the J Dilla / Ghostface Killah / MF Doom collaboration project called Sniperlite, which contains only three songs.
[edit] Born Like This
In late January 2009, Lex records confirmed DOOM's new album title to be Born Like This, and that the "MF" would be dropped from his name, now just DOOM.[5] The album was released worldwide on March 24, 2009.[6] As a teaser, the track "Ballskin" was posted on DOOM's Myspace page on 13 January 2009.[7] Snippets of the entire album were made available for streaming on DOOM's MySpace on the album's release date.
The title for the album was inspired by the poem 'Dinosauria, We' by 1960s and '70s poet Charles Bukowski. DOOM samples a performance of the poem by Bukowski on the track "Cellz." Previously, DOOM used a Bukowski sample for a vocal interlude on 2004's "All Outta Ale." [8] Thom Yorke of Radiohead remixed the track "Gazillion Ear" which is available as an iTunes only bonus track
