MF DOOM was a master of disguise and a consummate trickster. From sending forth his “Doombots” to do his bidding — basically, hiring a bunch of “lookalikes” to don his trademark mask and perform at shows for him — to switching identities throughout his decades-long career, DOOM had a penchant for upending fans’ expectations and leaning all the way into the schtick. As it turns out, the Villain may have gotten one last laugh from the Great Beyond after passing away last Halloween, as Okayplayer reports that seemingly everyone apparently had Daniel Dumile’s birthday wrong on their hip-hop calendars.
There’s no telling where the oft-cited date of birth for DOOM, January 9, 1971, stemmed from, but fans apparently believed it was supported in his DangerDoom song “Pretty Hair,” where he rapped, “Circa one nine seventy-one, on the mic machine it seems his work will never be done.” Obviously, that could be read as either 1/9/71 or 1971, and it appears some of us had it mixed up all along. Okayplayer spoke to some of DOOM’s closest associates and checked court records from old arrests to determine the truth.
Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, Madlib’s manager and a former Stones Throw artist who was signed to the label at the same time as DOOM, told Okayplayer, “He always wished me happy birthday on July 12th and I always wished him a happy birthday on July 13th. Unless he was just not correcting me or lying to me, that’s when I know his birthday to be.”
Meanwhile, a search through Maryland’s court records database for his 1998 arrest for possession with intent to distribute lists his DOB as 7/13/1971. That’s one fewer mystery about the multifaceted mic menace — although, it seems his supply of them is practically endless. Another that may soon need solving is a release date for MadVillainy 2, which was revealed to be in the works on a recent podcast.