A few weeks ago, music nerds, hip hop hipsters, and WXAV DJs celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of one of hip hop’s most personality-filled albums of all time, Madvillainy.
The album was by supergroup Madvillain, the legendary collaboration consisting of two extremely multi-talented hip hop musicians, Madlib, and MF DOOM.
Madlib, real name Otis Jackson Jr., handled the album’s fantastic sample-heavy production. Daniel Dumile, an artist with many aliases, performs most of the album’s rapping as his most famous alias: the mysterious, super villain-themed masked rapper MF DOOM.
Rap fans also patiently wait for November to celebrate another classic MF DOOM project, a foodthemed masterpiece with food metaphors and complex rhyme patterns piled high like hamburger toppings, MM…FOOD. However, it would be most appropriate to celebrate Dumile now as Madvillainy is undeniably his most famous project.
Dumile began his musical career in the early 1990s under the name Zev Love X in the hip hop group KMD, which initially stood for “Kausing Much Damage” but was later changed to “A Positive Kause in a Much Damaged Society.” KMD was a trio, whose two most notable members were Daniel Dumile and his brother Dinglizwe Dumile, a.k.a DJ Subroc.
KMD had a unique way of being conscious in their music. Their debut album, Mr. Hood tackled very serious themes such as racism and black empowerment in a comical fashion. KMD’s second album, Black Bastards, stylized as Bl_ck B_ast_rds, features the most notable instance of the group addressing sensitive issues with a more risky and edgy approach.
The album art for Black Bastards features a drawing of what appears to be a racist caricature of a black person being lynched. As shocking and disturbing as the album art is, the group meant it to represent the killing of the racist portrayals, and not portraying it in a literal sense.
Unfortunately, KMD came to an abrupt end due to the tragic and sudden passing of DJ Subroc. Shortly after, KMD was dropped from their record label, with the controversial album art being cited as a primary reason.
A few years after his brother’s passing, Dumile began his return to rap as an incognito performer by covering his face with items such as women’s stockings or bandanas. This marked his grand return as the mysterious rapper, MF DOOM. As MF DOOM, Dumile wore a mask that was remarkably similar to the famed Marvel supervillain Doctor Doom, with the current mask taking inspiration from the movie Gladiator.
Dumile is probably best known for two things; his dense rhymes and his character. He is able to set up punchlines with multiple rhyming words per line. There will always be a new rhyme or joke to discover on multiple listens. The frequency of his rhymes has placed Dumile in many conversations of best rappers. To some, he is the preferred punchline rapper, even over significantly famous performers such as Lil Wayne or Eminem.
Although Dumile is far from a “bad person” and usually avoids controversies, he is best known for his iconic villainous character. Hip hop has had a long-standing history of praising the bad guy. MC Ren of N.W.A. fame frequently called himself “The Villain” or “The Villain in Black,” and who could forget all of Eminem’s exaggerated instances of violence on albums like The Slim Shady LP? However, DOOM is a standout example of the “villain” archetype by almost being a parody of a rapper. By fully embracing the image of a comic book villain as opposed to rap’s stereotypical gangster, Dumile allows himself to rap about extremely exaggerated acts of violence that only a supervillain could.
Anthony Lopez
Features Contributor