Many other writers have described DOOM’s layers of mystery and artifice as barriers erected in response to the tragic death of his brother Subroc, and their group KMD’s subsequent forceful ejection from the music business.
Each verse was like getting a glimpse into what the Riddler might think about in the shower on his days off. His most memorable lyric concerning the type of wealth rappers usually bragged about lamented how often he misplaced his gold fronts. DOOM rapped about shit that was normal to everyday life: brushing his teeth, playing Scrabble, getting turned down for dates by women, going bald. Not “normal shit” for rap music of the time-luxury cars, private jets, mansions (this is the tail-end of the “Shiny Suit” era we’re talking about). The great paradox of DOOM was that he wore a mask, called himself a supervillain, had multiple sci-fi inspired pseudonyms, yet mostly rapped about normal shit. We want to honor his legacy in this special issue by showing you some of ours. Everyone’s got a favorite DOOM song they were excited to share, and it’s rarely the same one as someone else’s. There were a wealth of stories about what his music meant to people, personal anecdotes that showed the passion of the man behind the mask, and clips being circulated that are both hilarious and heartening. His unfortunate passing stunned people the world over, but what struck me most about the collective memorializing of MF DOOM is how celebratory it felt. He was beaten down, but never hung his head for too long.Īs I think about what DOOM’s loss means to me, I’ve decided not to hang my head about it either. He would eventually lose his own 14-year-old son and his right to come back to the country where he was raised due to a visa issue, but he didn’t let any of that stop him from making the most of the hand he was dealt. Apart from a lyrical tribute to his brother on the title track of his debut solo album Operation: Doomsday-“on Doomsday, ever since the womb / ’til I’m back where my brother went, that’s what my tomb will say”-and an interlude which features one of Subroc’s beats, DOOM turned his gaze to the future and made a new path for himself.
KING GEEDORAH FAZERS SONG MEANING MOVIE
Doom, he donned a metal mask-a replica of a prop from the movie Gladiator-and Zev Love X was no more. Calling himself Metal Face DOOM, after Marvel Comics’s iconic supervillain Dr. Honing his skills at open-mic nights while obscuring his face with a pair of tights stretched over his head, he assumed a new persona based on a love he maintained for the rest of his life-comic books. This would be enough to make anyone give up on their career, or maybe on everything-and for a few years, Daniel Dumile was off the grid while he processed his loss and picked up the pieces of his life.
KMD’s label, Elektra, shelved the album and terminated their contract the same week. They had the approval of 3rd Bass, a feature from the inimitable collective Brand Nubian, and were making good progress on their second album when Subroc tragically lost his life while crossing the Long Island Expressway. Hood, was credited collectively to KMD but primarily done by Subroc himself when he was only 17. His star began to rise in the late ’80s, forming the group KMD with his brother DJ Subroc. MF DOOM was no stranger to devastating loss. I don’t know if human beings are even equipped to understand what it means to lose one of our own-but on the day the news broke, there was a sense that everyone who knew about DOOM could almost grasp the magnitude of the hole he left in the fabric of our collective history. On that day, I had to make an adjustment and file him under “one of the greatest rappers to ever live.” Everyone handles grief differently I don’t know if I’ve ever processed a loss properly, whatever that may mean. For as long as I’ve known about MF DOOM’s music, he’s been one of the greatest rappers alive. It’s always a strange thing to wrestle with something you’ve understood as a fact of life suddenly becoming a part of history. The general public wouldn’t find out until December 31st, and it was one last gut punch in a year that many of us felt didn’t have much left to lose. MF DOOM-born Daniel Dumile Thompson-left us on October 31st, 2020.