Daniel Dumile, the masked rapper who acted as MF Doom and built a lasting underground fan base with his eccentric wordplay and comic book character, died on October 31, a statement from his family said on Thursday. He was 49 years old.
The rapper’s label, Rhymesayers, provided the statement, signed by Dumile’s wife, Jasmine. The label did not provide details about the cause of death or why the information was shared two months later.
More than six solo albums released between 1999 and 2009 and five collaborative LPs (with Madlib and Danger Mouse, among others) between 2004 and 2018, Mr. Dumile perfected a style that was intricate and imaginative, using esoteric and lowbrow references as well like cartoon images in letters that can be moving.
Born in London and raised on Long Island, Mr. Dumile grew up immersed in the early influences of hip-hop. He debuted in 1989 on the third track of the bass “The Gas Face” with a cameo that helped him get a record deal for his own group, KMD, in which he sang as Zev Love X. The act included his brother, Dingilizwe, who played under the name of DJ Subroc, and his first album, “Mr. Hood ”, arrived in 1991 through major label Elektra. During the recording of KMD’s second album, “Black Bastards”, Subroc died in a car accident, and the label later refused to release the album. Mr. Dumile went underground, disappearing from the entertainment business, but continuing to work on music in particular while raising his son.
He resurfaced in 1997 with the single “Dead Bent”, his first song under the name Metal Face Doom. (The persona was a tribute to the Marvel villain Doctor Doom.) Around the time of the release of the album “Operation: Doomsday” in 1999, which featured a masked character on the cover, he began to hide his face in public, at first with the half mask, and then the metal mask that became his signature.
In a 2009 interview with The New Yorker, Dumile said the mask became necessary as he jumped from the studio to the stage. “I wanted to go on stage and pray, without people thinking about the normal things that people think,” he said. “A look always makes a first impression. But if there is a first impression, I can also use it to control the story. So, why not do something like put on a mask? “
Once an underground cult figure, Dumile’s albums in mid-August launched him to greater fame. “Madvillainy”, which arrived in 2004 with producer Madlib, was a major breakthrough. “It delivers long, associative verses, full of side jumps and unexpected twists,” wrote pop music critic Kelefa Sanneh in The New York Times, in a review of a 2004 show. “You think you know where he’s going and what each sentence will mean when it is finished. Then it doubles. “
Released in the same year, his album “MM… FOOD” (an anagram of his stage name), included tracks like “Gumbo”, “Kon Queso” and “Kon Karne”. In a rap about the seemingly mundane subject of silly food and humor, Mr. Dumile told Spin in 2004 that he was “showing respect for human life”.
“I’m more of a writer than a freestyler,” Dumile told The Chicago Tribune that same year. “I like to draw my things and consider myself an author.”
Mr. Dumile rapped under different personas and later became known for sending imposters on stage to perform for fans; in his metal mask, his trademark, it was difficult to tell the difference. The doubled body often disappointed fans, but it generated viral moments online, such as when an apparent MF Doom appearing at a show ended up being the comedian Hannibal Buress.
In 2017, Mr. Dumile announced on social media that his son, King Malachi Ezekiel Dumile, had died at the age of 14. Information about the survivors was not immediately available.