![]() ![]() Botha-clowning tirade that had the man who would be Metalface twisting around elaborate abstractions like few others this side of Kool Keith. Zev Love X first broke through to a golden era rap listenership with his guest spot on 3rd Bass’s ’89 classic ‘The Gas Face,’ a Prince Paul-produced, P.W. To really get a notion of MF DOOM, the complete picture begins with Zev Love X – the name he recorded under during the tragically brief existence of his first group, KMD. But just because he’s got rhymes like dimes doesn’t mean they’re a dime a dozen, and if anything this should make a good case for his evolution as one of the strangest and most study-worthy career arcs of his time. Aside from a handful of fellow iconoclastic multiple-personality workaholics – think the tireless work of DOOM antecedent Kool Keith, or DOOM’s notable brother-from-another-coast collaborator Madlib – you’d be hard pressed to make a list like this feel entirely definitive, especially without some of the stray singles, remixes, EPs, collaborations, crew efforts, and guest spots DOOM’s done in some guise or another since 1989 (!). So few hip-hop artists are more frustrating in their absence and more rewarding when they resurface.Īnd so few hip-hop artists could have a list of ten records that could be referred to as “a good start” rather than the bulk of their discography. People often ask “what if” about DOOM, even if he’s already long since given fans more than enough music to ensure a status as one of the all-time underground greats – we know there has to be more, because every time he appears he clicks back into his classic mode, often with a new angle or two, and writes rhymes like he’s literally incapable of using the same thought twice. In short, he was diabolically clever and sharp-wittedly funny – but he was also a villain, and villains too often come from tragedy.ĭOOM’s tragedies have so often been personal ones, from the circumstances around the loss of both his brother and his promising rap group in the early ’90s to the string of unfinished projects and unreliable live shows that have made his career a frequent minefield. He emerged as MF DOOM in the late ’90s and made instant inroads to an indie-rap success, boosted by a mixture of his enigmatic persona-inhabiting unpredictability, a relentlessly quotable and cliche-warping lyrical style, and an uncanny sense of how to make the youthful nostalgia of his ’80s-baby beats and comic book references resonate more deeply and mournfully than the burgeoning “geek culture” had usually allowed. And with each of those names comes a different facet of his identity, both as a storyteller and a reflection of himself – a reflection obscured by one of the most famous masks in popular music. Daniel Dumile’s had more names than other rappers have had albums. ![]()
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