MF Doom: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Videos
• Photos
• Groups/Boards
• Fan Sites

• Aesop Rock
• Solé
• Mr. Lif
• Quasimoto
• cLOUDDEAD
• Charizma
• 3rd Bass

• Kool Keith
• Stetsasonic
• Marley Marl
• Wu-Tang Clan
• EPMD
• 3rd Bass
• De La Soul

• P.O.S.

• Serengeti
• Danger Doom
• MF Grimm
• Robert "Bobbito" Garcia

• Danger Doom
• Monsta Island Czars
• K.M.D.
• Madvillain

Birth Name:

Daniel Dumile

Genres:

Rap & Hip-Hop Music, Gangsta and Hardcore Rap Music, Underground Rap Music

Decades Active:

1990's|2000's

Artistic Quality

Medium

Cultural Impact

Medium

Popularity

Low

Ratings Guide

Patterning his persona and logo after the Marvel Comics supervillain Dr. Doom, the man behind MF (Metal Face) Doom's iron mask is actually Daniel Dumile, aka Zev Love X, a member of former Big Apple hip-hoppers KMD. First featured on the 3rd Bass single "The Gas Face," the London-born, Long Island-raised Zev made his debut with KMD a couple of years later, along with his younger brother and musical partner DJ Subroc. The 1991 album Mr. Hood, released on Elektra Records, was part of a short-lived trend of Islamic Five Percent Nation hip-hop outings, along with efforts by groups like Poor Righteous Teachers and KMD's labelmates Brand Nubian. However, Subroc was fatally injured in 1993 when he was struck by a car, and when Zev and KMD returned the next year, it was with the even more serious and miltant Bl_ck B_st_rds, an album whose cover art alone (featuring a Little Black Sambo-ish cartoon character being hanged) spelled the end of the group's contract with Elektra. With the album in limbo, Zev went underground for five years, "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him," according to his official bio, a reworking of Dr. Doom's origin. Meanwhile, Bl_ck B_st_rds was heavily bootlegged and Zev Love's legend grew, but few knew at first that the rapper who began showing up at the ~Nuyorican Poets Café in 1998, freestyling with a stocking covering his face, was actually Zev. The imaginative MC finally ended the mystery in 1999, resurfacing in his new identity as MF Doom and making up for lost time with a critically praised new album, Operation: Doomsday, on indie label Fondle 'Em Records. The following year saw the long-awaited official release of Bl_ck B_st_rds (complete with Sambo-style cover art), as well as several singles and an EP with fellow rhymer MF Grimm. In 2001, SubVerse re-released Operation: Doomsday and Bl_ck B_st_rds.

- Dan LeRoy, All Music Guide