Patterning his persona and logo after the Marvel Comics supervillain Dr. Doom, the man behind
MF (Metal Face) Doom's iron mask is actually Daniel Dumile, aka Zev Love X, a member of former Big Apple hip-hoppers KMD. First featured on the
3rd Bass single "The Gas Face," the London-born, Long Island-raised Zev made his debut with KMD a couple of years later, along with his younger brother and musical partner DJ Subroc.
The 1991 album Mr. Hood, released on Elektra Records, was part of a short-lived trend of Islamic Five Percent Nation
hip-hop outings, along with efforts by groups like
Poor Righteous Teachers and KMD's labelmates
Brand Nubian. However, Subroc was fatally injured in 1993 when he was struck by a car, and when Zev and KMD returned the next year, it was with the even more serious and miltant Bl_ck B_st_rds, an album whose cover art alone (featuring a Little Black Sambo-ish cartoon character being hanged) spelled the end of the group's contract with Elektra. With the album in limbo, Zev went underground for five years, "recovering from his wounds" and swearing revenge "against the industry that so badly deformed him," according to his official bio, a reworking of Dr. Doom's origin. Meanwhile, Bl_ck B_st_rds was heavily bootlegged and Zev Love's legend grew, but few knew at first that the rapper who began showing up at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1998, freestyling with a stocking covering his face, was actually Zev. The imaginative MC finally ended the mystery in 1999, resurfacing in his new identity as
MF Doom and making up for lost time with a critically praised new album,
Operation: Doomsday, on indie label Fondle 'Em Records. The following year saw the long-awaited official release of Bl_ck B_st_rds (complete with Sambo-style cover art), as well as several singles and an EP with fellow rhymer
MF Grimm. In 2001, SubVerse re-released
Operation: Doomsday and Bl_ck B_st_rds. A wealth of bootlegs, compilation appearances, mixtapes, and instrumental albums (the beloved by DJ's Special Herbs series) surfaced over the years but no follow-up full-length until
Doom introduced his alter ego,
Viktor Vaughan, in 2003 with
Vaudeville Villain. His team-up with the multi-talented
Madlib became
Madvillain and their April 2004 release,
Madvillainy drew rave reviews. Four months later
Venomous Villain marked the return of
Viktor Vaughan with the second
MF Doom album,
MM… Food?, appearing in November the same year. The formerly promo-only
Live From Planet X got its aboveground release in March of 2005 with
Special Herbs, Vol. 9-10 following in July. ~ Dan LeRoy, All Music Guide
