MF DOOM is the stage name of Daniel Dumile, a rapper, songwriter and record producer associated with underground and alternative hip hop. He is born in 1971 and dies in 2020. His work is known for dense internal rhyming, complex lyricism and a masked supervillain persona built around the character of Doctor Doom.

Career

Dumile begins recording in 1988 as Zev Love X in the group KMD. After the group disbands in 1993 following the death of his brother and bandmate DJ Subroc, he steps away from the music industry for several years. He returns in the late 1990s, performing at open mic events while wearing a metal mask, and develops the MF DOOM identity around that image.

His first solo album, Operation: Doomsday, appears in 1999 and establishes the character that becomes central to his later work. During the early and mid-2000s he releases a series of records under different names, including Mm..Food under the MF DOOM name, and albums as King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn.

Collaborations and aliases

One of his best-known collaborations is Madvillainy, released in 2004 with producer Madlib under the name Madvillain. It is widely regarded as one of the most significant hip hop albums of its era. He follows it with The Mouse and the Mask in 2005, a collaboration with Danger Mouse under the name Danger Doom.

In his later years he focuses mainly on collaborative releases. These include work with Jneiro Jarel as JJ Doom, with Bishop Nehru as NehruvianDoom, and with Czarface, including Czarface Meets Metal Face and the posthumous Super What? He is also linked to Monsta Island Czars, Madvillainz, DOOMSTARKS, MA Doom and WestsideDoom.

Style and influence

MF DOOM is a prominent figure in underground and alternative hip hop during the 2000s. His sound sits across abstract hip hop, east coast hip hop, experimental hip hop, hip hop and underground hip hop. He also uses the names DOOM and various project-specific aliases across his career. He is widely recognised for his influence on hip hop and for maintaining a distinctive artistic identity throughout his career.

Later life

Dumile spends much of his life in the United States but does not obtain American citizenship. In 2010, after returning from an international tour supporting Born Like This, he is denied reentry to the country and later lives in the United Kingdom, first in London and then in Leeds. He dies in Leeds in 2020.