MF Doom

Daniel Dumile as MF DOOM

Daniel Dumile is an American hip-hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career. He was born in southwest London, England (approximately 1971) to a South African father and a West Indian mother; the family moved to New York and lived in Long Island where he was raised.

His debut in the world of rap music came when he made a guest appearance on the song "The Gas Face" by the rap group 3rd Bass. On "The Gas Face" he appeared as Zev Love X along with his younger brother DJ Subroc. Their group together was KMD, which stands for either "Kausing Much Damage," or "positive Kause for a Much Damaged society." KMD signed with Elektra Records label under the A&R Dante Ross and released 1991's Mr. Hood as part of a short-lived trend of Islamic Five Percent Nation hip-hop outings, along with labelmates Brand Nubian and other groups like Poor Righteous Teachers.

Subroc was accidentally struck and killed by a car in 1993 while attempting to cross a busy Long Island expressway, before the release of a second KMD album entitled Bl_ck B_st_rds. The group was subsequently dropped from Elektra Records before the release of the album due to controversy over the album's cover art which featured a cartoon of a stereotypical pickaninny/sambo character being hung from the gallows.

Still dealing with the loss of his brother, Dumile became disillusioned and began to suffer from bouts of depression. He disappeared from the hip-hop scene from 1994-1997, and during or shortly after this time, leaving New York City and settling in Atlanta. According to his official biography, he was also "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him." Meanwhile, Black Bastards was heavily bootlegged and Zev Love's legend grew. In 1997, he began appearing at the Nuyorican Poets Café at open mic events for rappers, although few people knew that the man freestyling with a stocking over his face was the former Zev. The imaginative MC began using new identity MF DOOM, inspired by the Marvel Comics supervillain, Dr. Doom, using a metal mask while performing and refusing to be photographed without it ("MF" stands for "metal face").

The release of Operation: Doomsday in 1999 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 while maintaining the most control over his music.

Operation: Doomsday was received very well by underground listeners and was re-released in 2000. Starting in 2002, he began releasing albums of instrumental work, a series known as Special Herbs for several small record labels under the name Metal Fingers. In 2003 he created and released albums the King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn alter-egos to release two new albums and contribute to another.

MF DOOM's first commercial breakthrough came in 2004, with the album Madvillainy with producer Madlib under the group name Madvillain. Released by Stones Throw Records, the album was a minor critical and commercial success, hailed as a classic by some for its excellent beats and abstract rhymes. Late in the year, he released MM..Food? with the Minnesota-based underground label Rhymesayers Entertainment, using various food items to metaphorically explain life and his own complex personality. As Viktor Vaughn he released Venomous Villain (also called VV2), an album which received mixed reviews for its length (33 minutes) and the fact that he only rapped for ten minutes.

In 2005 MF DOOM took another step towards the commercial mainstream while maintaining his control as an independent artist with The Mouse and the Mask, a collaboration with producer DJ Danger Mouse under the group name DangerDoom, was released on October 11, 2005. Now in production is a collaboration album with Ghostface Killah.

To many rap fans, Dumile is considered to be eccentric, but rhythmic rhyming, word play and lyrical flows make him a favorite of underground hip-hop fans. He is obsessed with old comic books, especially those of the Fantastic Four and their battles with Dr. Doom. Dumile's influences seem to draw heavily from American comic books and classic Japanese science fiction like Godzilla. In his role as King Geedorah, he inhabits a rap circle known as Monsta Island Czars, including rappers named Kong, Rodan, Jet Jaguar, and other rappers named after Japanese movie monsters. The Geedorah name itself is a derivation of Ghidorah.