MF Doom
Comics-Inspired Hip-Hop Superhero By Jason LipshutzUnderground rap's confounding superhero.
Equal parts underground rap workhorse and confounding live artist, MF Doom (born Daniel Dumile) remains as intriguing and elusive a figure as the Marvel Comics villain from which he adopted his primary persona. Dumile found minor success as Zev Love X, one-third of the Native Tongues-affiliated KMD, in the early '90s, but when his brother and musical partner DJ Subroc was hit and killed by a car in 1993, Dumile disappeared for several years before returning as MF Doom. Never photographed without his ominous metal mask (the MF stands for "Metal Face," not the epithet one might expect from those initials), Doom packs each verse with headspinning wit and slam-bang wordplay, and is at his best when matched with a producer whose gifts are equal to his lyrical handstands and silky cadence, such as Madlib’s jazz-inflected samples on 2004’s Madvillainy and Danger Mouse’s offbeat pop on 2005’s The Mouse and the Mask. Not content with one secret identity, MF Doom has released albums under the monikers Viktor Vaughn and King Geedorah and controversially has allegedly hired impostors to portray him during live performances.
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