Recently, we lost another great hip hop artist. MF Doom gained considerable respect from many people throughout his 30 years as a rapper and producer. The news of his death, which was announced on the last day of 2020, left artists, fans and others in the industry shocked and saddened. Artists who worked with Doom in the past and artists who just liked his music paid condolences and, for several days, the media covered his death and his legacy. Although he had already passed away on October 31, the news was sadly only revealed two months later, but the response to his death sent another surprise about how much of a presence he had had. Even if he never quite enjoyed mass popularity, MF Doom was a prominent individualist among the hip hop scene and emblematic of underground hip hop.

The first thing many people tend to remember him for is his unique and stylish mask. Although he showed off various alter egos like Zev Love X, King Geedorah, and Viktor Vaughn, his mask, modeled after the mask of Marvel Comics’ most notable supervillain, Doctor Doom, made MF Doom his best-known character. While most other people dream of being a hero, Doom saw himself more as a villain—a charismatic bad tendency of his which manifested itself as an unprecedented style of music that had the power to captivate and persuade people.

Doom, an extremely prolific writer, was also a record digger. Through his ever-growing archive he built a world of unrivaled sampling and lo-fi hip hop. He shaped his colorful sound through material like classic soul and funk music of the ’60s through ’80s, as well as world music and old movie soundtracks. On top of that, he made use of sound effects from TV talk shows. Sometimes he even created breathtaking beats using only a single sample by modifying and rearranging the cut’n’paste.

Consider, among his many masterpieces, “Hey!” The track samples the theme song of the animated series The New Scooby-Doo Movies. He loops a foreboding sound effect from the introduction of the original song and also inserts the instrumental from immediately after the introduction to great effect. “Hey!” serves as a perfect example of both the technical aspect and mood of MF Doom’s unique production style.

Doom was also an exceptional rapper. Under the group name KMD, he debuted in 1988 with his younger brother DJ Subroc. From that time, Doom, armed with a wide vocabulary and brilliant metaphors, demonstrated rapping that was every bit as individual as his production skills. Doom dealt with social and political issues in the beginning, but later expanded his horizons to even include surreal topics through imaginary characters. His rhymes were occasionally so complicated and challenging that many people had a hard time approaching them, but ironically this was a strong point of Doom’s raps.

MF Doom has had a sizable effect not only on producers interested in sampling aesthetics but also on artists of other genres as well. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who remixed Doom’s “Gazzillion Ear,” revealed in a written memorial that he found Doom’s genius absolutely dazzling. It’s truly sad that we can no longer witness MF Doom’s mesmerizing masked presence on stage. May he rest in peace and in his music.

TRIVIA

King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn
Although not as widely represented as MF Doom, he had other characters like King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn as well. King Geedorah is based on Ghidorah, the sworn enemy of the giant Japanese monster Godzilla, while Viktor Vaughn is a mad scientist who travels through time in order to commit crimes. Doom used different musical styles and lyrics depending on which character he was portraying. He released Take Me to Your Leader as King Geedorah in 2003, and Vaudeville Villain and Venomous Villain as Viktor Vaughn in 2003 and 2004, respectively.