10 facts about MF DOOM
1. Daniel Dumile first appeared on the music scene in 1989, as a guest on "The Gas Face" by 3RD Bass. As Zev Luv X, along with his brother DJ Subroc and MC Onyx, Dumile formed KMD and released the group's first album,
Mr. Hood, in 1991. That was the time of success for KMD and their videos were even on MTV’s rotation list, but in 93rd everything went to hell, literally. Sabroc died in a car accident, and the second album of the team was rejected by the music label due to the censorship - on the album’s cover there was a hanged black man.
2. During next five years Dumile turns into a hobo and an alcoholic, completely forgetting about music. In 98th he accidentally drops by an open-mic event in a cafe in New York, puts on a stocking on his head and reads the angriest, sharpest freestyle. Some time later he covers his identity with the metal mask of Marvel’s supervillain Viktor von Doom - now his name is MF DOOM(all capitals only).
3. DOOM writes the most complicated, multi-layered texts, which stand out from the traditional hip-hop canons: he juggles with alliterations, looped rhymes and sound imitations.
4. In 2003 MF DOOM, wheelchair-ridden rapper MF Grimm and a dozen of other underground MCs from New York make a conceptual album under the name of Monsta Island Czars team. Soon after the release DOOM and Grimm had a serious quarrel; on “The Mouse and the Mask” album DOOM calls his ex-friends “Midgets Into Crunk”.
5. DOOM has a whole array of different personalities and side-projects - he has released three solo albums under his name(“Operation: Doomsday”, “MM... Food?”, and "Born Like This"), and both of them nowadays are considered as hip-hop classics.
6. Two official alter-egos of his are - Viktor Vaughn (say “hi” to the Marvel’s villain in the metal mask one more time) and King Geedorah (three-headed dragon from Godzilla mythos).
7. Most famous DOOM’s works were made in collaboration with the most extraordinaire and well-known producers of today: backtracks for “Madvillainy” were made by the “brain” of Stones Throw records Madlib, for “The Mouse and the Mask” - by Danger Mouse.
8. DOOM has a close relationship with the [adult swim] TV channel: samples from its shows were used as a backbone for “The Mouse and the Mask”; apart from that, DOOM uses his scary deep voice to do the voice-overs for Sherman the Giraffe in the anime parody “Perfect Hair Forever” and promo clips for “The Boondocks” cartoon series.
9. Several years ago DOOM disappeared - he hired some guy in the mask to perform instead of him at his concerts and, according to rumors, fell into alcoholism again. All the projects that had been announced by the time have never been turned to live.
10. In his big interview to Wire magazine in 2005 DOOM said: “The villain always returns”. And “Born into This” album release was announced at the moment when there was almost no one left who believed in him and press started to call him a swindler. Never underestimate the Metal Mask.
MF DOOM in GTA: Chinatown wars
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