DOOMSDAY

He’s the man behind the mask, the eponymous heir to Dr. Doom and responsible for shaping the underground hip-hop scene in ways you've probably never even considered. He goes via many aliases like a secret agent or a felon on the run, and constantly thwarts those who try to second guess him. He is MF DOOM, and he’s finally coming to Britain.

Now go to your average music fan, or indeed your average hip-hop fan, and most will draw a blank when confronted with DOOM. His technique is simply stunning, sampling audio from old Fantastic Four cartoons and music straight from 1970s television and advertising, layering on top of that loose, somewhat surreal verses about everything from pie to cartoons, all delivered in an almost half-arsed drawl, but always containing a spark of wit and humour often scant from today’s ‘rappers’. Amazingly prolific, but still fiercely underground, he spits out albums faster than reality TV spits out ‘stars’. As such in the past five years he’s put out ten records - a smorgasbord of albums, EPs and mixtapes, has appeared on the second Gorillaz LP, ‘Demon Days’, and produced for Wu-Tang stalwarts Ghostface and Masta Killa. He’s even had his own action figure and Nike Dunk released (see my previous sneakergasm), the latter of which trade hands online for upwards of £250. Put it simply – he’s got IT.

However, DOOM has almost seemingly gone out of his way to severely piss off everyone who has ever given a damn about his music, not through traditional diss tracks or through the time feared notion of ‘selling out’, no what DOOM has done borders on both arrogance and art.

Even though he’s whipping out new material at an almost superhuman rate, his live appearances are getting rarer and rarer. Indeed online news of his upcoming UK tour (his first ever) was met with anger from loyal US fans wanting to get what they described as ‘the good show we deserve’ from Mr. Metal-Fingers. Indeed when he does make his rare US appearances they often leave a very sour taste in the mouths of the punters, for the man behind the mask on the stage in front of their eyes is not MF DOOM at all, no, in fact its an imposter. Rumours began circulating online that DOOM had employed a stooge for a club show in LA, miming to his hits before being booed off after roughly 3 songs, this was furthered by an angry open ended letter from a former DOOM fan that quickly circulated forums and blogs. Then one fake appearance became two... then three... then it spiralled out of control. Each DOOM show is now pre-empted by fears and worries that the $30 ticket for the show will be wasted money on another ‘Doom-bot’ appearance.

As such the news of DOOM’s UK tour has left some weary of paying upwards of £30 a ticket, just in case it all turns sour. But what this suggests to me is that the idea of MF DOOM is an art project, a lesson in phenomenology similar to the Shepard Fairey OBEY street-art campaign. What this DOOM Campaign is showing, is that there is no MF DOOM. It makes you question everything you thought you knew about the man behind the mask. Is this guy the guy we’re hearing on these records? Is he in fact one guy at all but a carefully constructed team of artists and producers, all trading under one name and one image? Is it one piece of a much larger picture? At this point all is speculation, but it won’t stop people trying to wing tickets for his upcoming shows because whether he appears or not, DOOM’s shows are going to be talked about on these shores for quite some time.