Late last year the hip-hop community was shocked by news of MF DOOM’s death. The rapper passed away on Halloween, but his family opted to keep the news from the public until they were comfortable. Now, seven months later, he’ll be honored with a new street sign in Long Beach, New York.
Earlier this year, one Dr. Patrick C. Graham, who went to high school with DOOM, started a petition for getting a street sign named after him. Though he initially wanted to call is KMD-MF DOOM Way” — the first part a reference to the hip-hop duo with which he first made his name — a new report from HipHopDX reveals it will likely be called something else.
“Right now, there’s discussion instead of just ‘KMD-MF DOOM WAY,’ there’s going to be some indication of his actual government name,” Graham told the publication. “That’s all I knew him as was Dumile [laughs]. They were trying to do it before his birthday, but I feel we shouldn’t rush.”
Graham also spoke about the steps he took towards making the street sign a reality. “I had several community members contact me to see if I could get engaged with it,” he said. “I used to run the Martin Luther King Center there, so I still have a close connection to the community. I was born and raised there, went to high school with Dumile. So I said give me a minute and I’ll craft a letter to the City Council based on how I see it and then converted that letter into a petition. The group said they loved it and we moved forward.”
The news comes after Your Old Droog’s “Dropout Boogie,” which features a verse from DOOM, was released.