MF Doom Biography

Daniel Dumile, later known by his pseudonym, MF Doom, was born on July 13, 1971, in Hounslow, London, UK, to a Zimbabwean father and a Trinidadian mother. He was the eldest of the 5 children of his parents.

He later mentioned his older brother, Markham Temple, for inspiring him in his career. His younger brother, Dingilizwe Dumile, was born in 1973 and grew up to form the hip-hop group KMD with him.

Dumile later grew up in Long Beach, Long Island, New York. Nonetheless, he remained a British citizen throughout his life and did not gain US citizenship.

Dumile started DJ-ing soon after third grade. He also loved collecting comic books and was often called Doom by his friends and family.

Daniel Dumile started his music career in 1988, as part of the group KMD. The group began as a graffiti crew named KMD, or Kausing Much Damage, featuring him and his brother Dingilizwe as part of the core group.

When the group transformed into a rap and hip-hop trio, its name remained the same (KMD) but now stood for (Positive) Kause (in a) Much Damaged (Society). Daniel became known as rapper Zev Love X, while Dingilizwe took up the pseudonym DJ Subroc. Their friend Jade 1 (or Rodan), who was part of the original group, was now replaced by Onyx the Birthstone Kid. Onyx contributed to the rhymes.

In 1991, they released their début record, Mr. Hood, which was a casual album about the young generation finding their way through a messy world. Within a couple of years, Onyx quit the group. The Dumile brothers, both young fathers by then, began working on Black Bastards. Their lyrics focused on the world of young Black men and were infused with dark humor.

However, just before the release of Black Bastards, a Billboard columnist protested after misreading the album’s cover image, which had a drawing of a Sambo character being lynched. Soon, Dingilizwe was killed after being struck by a car. Elektra, KMD’s record label back then, immediately the group. Black Bastards, thus, was eventually shelved.

After his brother’s death, Dumile too disappeared from the media limelight. In the mid-90s, Dumile hopped between Atlanta and New York. There were rumors of him sleeping on park benches.

In the late 90s, he suddenly reappeared at an open mic at Manhattan’s Nuyorican Poets Cafe. He was seen wearing a stocking cap covering his face, to put up a show of being an unknown artist.

He thus took up the new pseudonym, MF Doom. The phase that followed had him wearing a metal mask during his performances, said to be inspired by Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Doom. Some believe his mask was inspired by the film Gladiator. Other sources believe his stage name, MF Doom, was actually a play on his last name, Dumile (which was pronounced as DOOM-eh-lay).

His other pseudonyms of this phase were King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn, each apparently inspired by comic-book personas. In fact, the stage name King Geedorah was said to be based on the character King Ghidorah from the 1964 sci-fi horror film Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Even some of the lyrics of his tracks contained references to Japanese kaiju films and comic books.

From the late 1990s to the 2000s, Daniel Dumile released many albums, such as Operation: Doomsday (1999) and Mm..Food (2004). During this time, he also collaborated with artists such as DJ Danger Mouse, MC Serch, Madlib, Ghostface Killah, MF Grimm, and Jneiro Jarel. His 2004 album Madvillainy, in collaboration with Madlib (as part of the duo Madvillain), is considered one of Dumile's best works.

From 1999 to 2009, Dumile released 6 solo albums. Between 2004 and 2018, he released 5 collaborative LPs. He garnered a massive underground fan base due to his offbeat lyrics and comic-book-inspired personas.

Daniel Dumile was raised as a Muslim and was a follower of the Five-Percent Nation, or the Nation of Gods and Earths, an Islamic Black nationalist movement. He was also taught the basics of Afrocentrism by his father.

He and his fellow members of KMD became members of the Ansaar Allah Community, or the Nuwaubian Nation, in the early 1990s. By 2000, though, he ceased being a prominent believer of Nuwaubianism.

He was married to Jasmine Dumile. Some sources state they had 2 children, while others believe they had 3 children. One of his children, his son Malachi Ezekiel Dumile (born on February 22, 2003), died at age 14 (in late 2017). Dumile did not release much music after this incident.

Although he mostly lived in the US, Dumile did not become a naturalized US citizen. He got a British passport just before his 2010 European tour. He was later not allowed re-entry into the US, in-spite of his long-term residency in the country.

The denial forced Dumile to stay apart from his wife and children. Following this incident, Dumile spoke to them only through video calls and met them only during their short visits to the UK. His family eventually moved to London in 2012, and Dumile decided not to try for US citizenship.

On December 31, 2020, Jasmine, Daniel Dumile's wife, declared on Instagram that Dumile had died on October 31 that year. While Dumile’s record label confirmed the news of his death to Rolling Stone magazine, no cause of death was mentioned.

He was 49 at the time of his death. Interestingly, no explanation was provided for the 2-month delay in the announcement of Dumile’s death.

Tributes poured in from musicians, and President Joe Biden included Coffin Nails, Dumile's 2004 single, in his inauguration playlist. However. Biden was criticized, as his party’s government had previously denied Dumile re-entry into the US.