The world is still reeling after news of the death of rapper and producer MF DOOM, reported on Thursday. MF DOOM, whose real name was Daniel Dumile, passed away on October 31; the news was confirmed by his wife Jasmine on the artist’s website Instagram account. Dumile was 49 years old.
DOOM – whose name I will continue to spell in capital letters, just as he demanded – was one of the most respected figures in hip hop. Q-Tip, another big one, crystallized his legacy perfectly with a tweet paying homage on Thursday, calling DOOM “his favorite MC.”
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the rhyming and narrative sharpness of the enigmatic metal-faced villain. A series of extremely influential releases under various names between the late 90s and the mid 2000s – from Operation: Final Judgment for Madvillainy and The mouse and the mask – cemented DOOM’s place in the underground hip hop pantheon. The fact that you never saw the mug behind the mask only contributed to your myth. The root there’s a great obituary at DOOM that I recommend you take a look at.
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Like many of us, I have listened to the DOOM catalog almost exclusively since the tragic news broke out before the long weekend. Although I always liked his music, I didn’t know much about Dumile the man – although, of course, that’s how he wanted it. You can imagine my joy and surprise, then, when I heard that he was an avid radio controlled car enthusiast.
DOOM was interviewed in 2012 to Intersection, a fashion and automotive culture magazine, about his hobby. The text was preserved online via Issuuand starts on page 164. Includes photos of DOOM testing his runs at a BMX park in London. Some outtakes from the essay published in Imgur, show him playing with his son, King Malachi Ezekiel Dumile, who died in 2017 at the age of 14. The photos leave me in tears, but smiling.
DOOM evidently did not drive much at the time, as he told Intersection he had no license. That did not stop him from taking occasional trips on his wife’s Lincoln Navigator, although, fortunately, he says he was never caught. Instead, he tended to fix himself with an RC car remote in hand:
“I have 13 of those idiots at home,” [DOOM] he says as he points to the radio control cars on the floor.
“I will easily spend about two thousand dollars on one of these. Every child wants to have a car with remote control. But when I was a kid, we couldn’t afford it. So now I’m living the dream. Relive that part of my childhood that I didn’t have a chance to do at that time. One day I said ok, I’m going to give myself a gift and I threw $ 500 for one of these. It was a T-Maxx from Traxxas. And I always liked electronics and mechanics and things like that. Modifying things. Changing parts all the time. It’s a hobby. Keeps me out of trouble. “
The report continues with DOOM analyzing his favorites from his collection – the highlight is his black Porsche Cayenne with monster truck tires, adorned with Apple stickers. The rest of the list is all Tamiya, including a buggy, 1980s Toyota Hilux, Jeep Wrangler and the first generation Ford Bronco.
There’s something delicious about DOOM talking about brushless engines and three-speed gearboxes with childlike enthusiasm. “Wild Willy is on the track, destroying everything again,” he says of the Jeep. “We cannot stop it! Reminds me of crazy races or something. ”The whole thing made me want to pour over DOOM’s discography in search of bars on RC cars.
Rest in peace, legend.