Remembering MF DOOM
On October 31, 2020, Daniel Dumile, better known by his stage name MF DOOM, passed away. His family and friends kept the information under wraps as they took time to grieve outside of the public eye, waiting until December 31, 2020 to announce it to the world. Immediately the hip-hop world grieved. Their decision is not weird and should not even begin to be criticized. In fact, I respect and appreciate their response in the wake of the tragedy that befell their family.
That’s not what this article will be about though. If anything, this article will serve as a brief sharing of thoughts on MF DOOM, my experience with his music, and his lasting impact on the world of rap. I have a tendency to ramble on about topics like this but I am going to try and avoid that with this article. Part of me just wants to let this event breathe and have time to sink in, but I also know writing something like this and then eventually reading an article like this can be cathartic.
My hip-hop journey began through my best childhood friend, a guy named Devon. I had been into literally two hip-hop songs around the time that we became close, but this kid listened to all sorts of stuff I had never been exposed to. Then around the age of fourteen, music became a little more important to me and I began listening to hip-hop on Pandora, often basing my radios off songs and artists that Devon had introduced me to. I fell in love with the likes of Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Chiddy Bang through Pandora, and my listening never really went that far back in time. I went off to college at eighteen, thinking I had this great understanding of the art form, when for the first time someone showed me an Outkast song from before Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and I immediately began diving into Outkast radio on Pandora Plus (then called Pandora One). Suddenly I was being exposed to the likes of Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, Tupac, Common, and of course, MF DOOM. The first MF DOOM song I heard was “Meat Grinder.” I was taken aback. The beat was wonky and all over the place, yet always felt right, and MF DOOM was using rhyme patterns and flows that Eminem would struggle to top. Madvillainy, the album was called. I had to listen. I shortly thereafter listened to the whole album back to front. MF DOOM was forever in my brain from that moment onward.
I am not going to sit here after the fact and pretend like I went through all of his discography and became his biggest fan. I did listen to MM… Food and I heard some of his other stuff, but for me, Madvillainy was the peak. I had heard few hip-hop albums in my life that could compete with what DOOM and Madlib accomplished together on that project. Someday I am going to put together my relatively unbiased top 100 hip-hop albums of all time list. Madvillainy will be in the top twenty of that list. I had decided this long ago before this all happened, so, spoiler alert I guess.
MF DOOM managed to influence a whole generation of artists that came after him, while also motivating those that came before him. He wasn’t involved in beefs on a large public scale, and he seemed to be interested in bigging up small artists who needed a leg up in the rap game. Of course there were controversies, whether it was not being allowed back in the United States and just kind of saying “Fuck it,” to coming back, or the big one, his use of stand-ins to perform at his concerts. While none of this can be overlooked, these aren't the things that matter today. Every human being has their flaws and screw ups, particularly the famous one. At times like these, it's important to remember who the person was as a whole. MF DOOM was a hugely influential hip-hop artist with a big following whose lives he helped change in a lot of positive ways, but there was a man underneath that mask. That man had been through tragedy and strife and clearly had some demons.
We still don’t know how he passed, but I do hope it was with some semblance of peace. It's a good idea to keep Dumile’s family in your thoughts, and maybe go listen to Madvillainy tonight or tomorrow. It is absolutely worth it. For now though, rest in peace Daniel Dumile. Who would have thought the world would be a little worse off with less DOOM in it?
Shout out to TRIKONA for the artwork I used as the picture for this article.