The late Daniel Dumile was intimately familiar with reinvention and rebirth—concepts he explored through his alter ego, MF DOOM. The story goes like this: Dumile got his start as the bespectacled Zev Love X, a member of the boyish early-1990s Long Island rap trio KMD (Kausin’ Much Damage). But Dumile’s bandmate and brother, Subroc, died in 1993, and KMD were eventually dropped by their label—prompting Dumile to disappear from view altogether. When he returned in 1999, he had a new name—MF DOOM—and a remarkable debut album: Operation: Doomsday.
Released right around the time the underground indie hip-hop scene was booming, Operation: Doomsday is high art done on a low budget. DOOM cuts together samples from a variety of sources—from a vintage Fantastic Four cartoon to the influential 1980s hip-hop movie Wild Style—and uses them to craft a fictitious backstory of triumph over adversity. It’s all part of his raw musical recipe, one that finds DOOM lifting drums from old-school hip-hop cuts, and pop melodies from the likes of The Beatles and Atlantic Starr.
Lyrically, Operation: Doomsday is full of clever rhyme schemes and drunken wit, all of it sprinkled with gems of wisdom (example: “Only in America could you find a way to earn a healthy buck/And still keep your attitude on self-destruct”). At one point, he even rhymes from the perspective of a microphone (“The Mic”). Tempering braggadocio and street tales with geeky humour, Operation: Doomsday is a concept album about one man’s resurrection via art.
Tracklisting
- The Time We Faced Doom (Skit)
- Doomsday
- Rhymes Like Dimes
- The Finest
- Back In The Days (Skit)
- Go With The Flow
- Tick, Tick..
- Red And Gold
- The Hands of Doom (Skit)
- Who You Think I Am?
- Doom, Are You Awake? (Skit)
- Hey!
- Operation: Greenbacks
- The Mic
- The Mystery Of Doom (Skit)
- Dead Bent
- Gas Drawls
- ?
- Hero Vs Villain
Apple Music
Videos
MF DOOM - DEAD BENT (HD)
More Videos
Release Images
Release Information
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Wikipedia URL | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation:_Doomsday |
| Format | Vinyl LP (Silver/Purple Swirl ), Vinyl LP (Silver/Green Swirl), All Media Album Record Store Day Limited Edition Reissue Special Edition (25th Anniversary) |
| Label | Metal Face Records |
| Catalog Number | MF2503-LP |
| Notes | Record Store Day Black Friday 2024 Exclusive. Reissued in 5000 copies in Metallic Silver with Purple and Green Swirl, packaged in a gatefold jacket with the classic cover. It comes with an OBI Strip “Record Store Day Operation Doomsday 25th Anniversary Limited Edition”. Other 5000 copies have been pressed in a Red and Gold Splatter variant, packaged in a gatefold Jacket with the alternative cover from Jason Jagel, for a total of 10.000 copies. |
| Discogs URL | MF Doom - Operation: Doomsday |