Happy Heavenly Birthday, MF DOOM!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8LZ28J4Vb8Rob Swift mix
This Sunday, July 13th, marks what would have been the 54th birthday of Daniel Dumile. Following the loss of his brother, DJ Subroc, in 1993, Doom, then known as Zev Love X, spiraled downward. But he rose again, masked and with a new moniker, MF DOOM. His blend of cryptic lyricism, raw production, and highly creative concepts made him a Hip-Hop icon. To this day, his image remains instantly recognizable, and his catalog has been embedded into the very foundation of Hip-Hop forever. Simply put, he is the patron saint of the underground.
"Hip-Hop is going in a direction to where it's 100% on everything besides the music. Like what you look like, the sound of your name, to what you're wearing, the brand of clothing, to whatever intoxicants you choose to put in your body, to everything but except for what the music sounds like. The mask is really a testament to yo, it's not about none of that. It's straight about the wreck. You could be any color or whatever. The mask represents us, everybody. To where yo, nothing matters, the brand of clothing, none of that matters. It's about how you spit and the beats. That's what it's about." ~ MF DOOM
Many years ago, I'm referencing a time before the internet blew up and social media apps like the one you're using now, I'm talking about a time when Roc Raida and MF DOOM were alive. Hip-Hop taught me a lot of powerful lessons about the brotherhood within our culture. I was this Colombian kid from Jackson Heights, Queens, trekking it up to Harlem, NY, a predominantly Black section of Manhattan, to chill with Raida, @fatmanscoop, Johnny Cash, Sean C, and Steve D, and never felt like I was being treated differently because of my ethnic heritage. I remember Raida, specifically, would share stories of going over to Kurious George's house to play video games and chill. Today, I feel compelled to make a big deal out of the fact that Raida, a Black American kid, was hanging out with Kurious George, a Puerto Rican. Why? Because things are different today. Now, in 2025, racial characterizations are what drives so much of our interactions as Hip-Hop heads, and this disuniting being proliferated by rabble-rousers is the antithesis of Hip-Hop because in our culture, creativity and vibe are what matter, not origin.
Today, in honor of MF DOOM's birthday, I post this DOOM set I performed at Barrio BX in the Bronx, NY, in celebration of his message behind the mask. At some point, Hip-Hop needs to leave behind race and get back to brotherhood.
Happy heavenly birthday, MF DOOM! Hip-Hop hasn’t forgotten you.