Hip-hop artist MF DOOM dead at 49
MPHO RANTAO
AMERICAN-based rapper MF DOOM has died after a career spanning over two decades.
The rapper’s wife Jasmine confirmed his death on his Instagram account.
In a note addressed to the rapper, his wife paid tribute to “the greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for”.
Tributes from the hip-hop fraternity have been pouring in for the innovative artist, including tributes from Tyler, The Creator, presenter Zane Lowe, A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip and Run The Jewels.
The rapper was born Daniel Dumile in London to a Trinidadian mother and a Zimbabwean father. He moved with his family to the state of New York when he was a child but never gained American citizenship.
Dumile entered the hip-hop industry during hip-hop’s golden age of the late 1980s, becoming a major figure in underground hip-hop in the early 21st century.
Dumile became synonymous with his appearance in a mask, which was an appropriated image of Marvel Comics’ Doctor Doom when it debuted in 1999 on the cover of his debut album, ‘Operation: Doomsday’.
The rapper was known for collaborating with known figures such as Ghostface Killah, Gorillaz, Earl Sweatshirt, Czarface and Flying Lotus.
Upon the announcement of his death, Variety magazine called him “one of the most celebrated, unpredictable and enigmatic figures in independent hip-hop”.
MF DOOM’s cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
