The Lincoln Log

Danger! DOOM is back! Daniel Dumile, also known as MF DOOM, has been a popular name to the underground music society. Daniel, who was born in London, England, later moved with his family to Long Island, New York. Early in Daniel’s career, he formed the group KMD with his younger brother Subroc and another rapper who went by the name of Onyx the Birthstone kid. Elektra Record’s talent scout, Dante Ross, quickly signed them to their label.

Popular tracks were found on KMD’s album “Mr. Hood.” Tracks from the album like “Who Me?” and “Peachfuzz” had heavy video play on shows such as Yo MTV Raps and Rap City. Things were going good for Daniel until his brother was killed in a Long Island Expressway accident. Daniel left the hip hop scene from 1994-1997 to recover from the loss of his brother. After Daniel recovered from his emotional scars, he began rapping at open mic events at the Nuyorican Café in 1998. While he rapped at these open mic events, he hid his identity by wearing a stocking over his head.

His new identity was influenced by Marvel comic’s villain, Dr. Doom. Later on in his career he replaced the stocking with a mask. Some say the mask hid the metaphorical scars that remained from Subroc’s death. The release of his album, “Doomsday” in 1999, was a turning point in Daniel’s career of becoming a major independent recording artist. In 2000, he came out with an album that was strictly instrumentals; it was called “Special Herbs.”

Daniel has gone by a few stage names. He started out as Zev Love X and has also been known as King Geedorah, Metal fingers, and Viktor Vaughn, but he is best known as MF DOOM. He has a unique sound like no other. His wordplay flows smoothly and he often refers to old cartoons particularly the Fantastic Four characters. His style has often been referred to as eccentric or full of energy and he often refers to himself in third person.

MF DOOM has most recently worked with Ghostface Killah. He produced tracks on Ghostface Killa’s 2006 albums, “Fishscale” and “More Fish.” MF DOOM has worked with artists and producers such as Madlib and DJ Danger Mouse. “DANGERDOOM” is an album that DJ Danger Mouse and MF Doom worked on together. Recently at the Plug Awards, “DANGERDOOM” won best hip hop album of the year. Also “The Mouse and the Mask” ,which is their first collaboration together, has made it into the Sunday Telegraph’s albums of the year. Although MF DOOM has remained an independent artist, he made a big transition into mainstream media in 2005. “The Mouse and the Mask” was done in cooperation with Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Some MF DOOM songs might sound familiar to you if you are a fan of Cartoon Network.

The album I reviewed was Madvillainy. This was the debut album of the duo MF DOOM and hip hop producer Madlib. This was a great album and it was definitely worth listening to all the songs. Some notable songs were “All Caps,” “Brainmelt,” and “Rhinestone Cowboy.” There were 22 tracks on this album and the longest track didn’t exceed 5 minutes. The album consists of some tracks with strictly instrumentals and some tracks with MF DOOM rapping. I would rate this album a 4.5 out of 5 stars for its new funky fresh approach to hip hop and for it’s originality.