1999 Rewind: Remembering MF DOOM’S Doomsday

Are y’all ready to party like it’s 1999? We all love the 90s here at Soul In Stereo, so it’s only right to revisit albums that are marking 25 years in 2024. 1999 Rewind looks back at all your old faves and see how well they hold up.

It’s ALL CAPS Day! Twenty-five years ago today, MF DOOM exploded onto rap’s underground scene with his official solo debut. Few knew at the time that the game was about to change forever. Hip-hop’s favorite super villian would become one of the genre’s greatest pioneers – even though he rarely gets credit for it. But today, he’s getting that credit! William Clarke joins me to talk about an album that would become a blueprint for modern rap.

Time to take it back! Share your memories of when you first heard Doomsday.

William: I was a baby when this album came out in 1999 and didn’t come across this album until college, maybe around late 2017/early 2018. I was familiar with MF DOOM due to hearing and loving Madvillainy earlier that year and became more interested due to Dead End Hip Hop talking highly of him and that album. When I first heard Doomsday, I enjoyed how well he rhymed and how he tied the comic book aspect together. After hearing it more and learning its story, I appreciated it more and more and wanted to hear more albums from him. It felt refreshing around 1999 when hip-hop had become commercialized in the mainstream, and currently, with the overuse of trap music.

Edd: Well, the fact that you were a literal baby while I was doing college ‘tings in 1999 is enough to send me into an arthritic shock. But back to the album. I unfortunately did not hear this album in real time. The first DOOM project I latched on to was 2005’s Mouse and the Mask with Danger Mouse. DOOM’s bizarre delivery and penchant for cartoon and comic references were very weird at first, but it didn’t take long for his mix of lyrical skill and biting humor to take over my iPod. I soon went back to catch up on his earlier projects – like 2004’s Mm..Food and Madvillainy, and, eventually, this album, which would become my favorite DOOM project to date. Better late than never.

The best song is…

William: “Gas Draws”

It’s funny that this song snuck up on me since last year. I didn’t remember this song being that good. I love the sample of Steely Dan. DOOM’s verses were also on point and it had one of my favorite bars on the album:

I hit the brew up like nobody knows how X the unseen feels

When givin crews a brush with death, like between meals

Two times a day with brothers that’s tight like a noose

With more rhyme in use than Dr. Seuss or mother****** Mother Goose.

I also love how it’s a throwback to his KMD days when he was Zev Love X, and I did hear the 1994 demo of this and enjoyed it, but I love the finalized version more.

Edd: “Red and Gold”

It’s all about “Red and Gold,” and it’s all thanks to that incredible sample of The Deele’s “Shoot ‘Em Up Movies.” Anytime that track is used, it’s an instant winner in my eyes (see Camp Lo’s “Gotcha” as well). DOOM’s bars are all over the place in the best ways – “You could gather round like it was an eclipse/Just don’t look directly to the b****, you may be blinded by the scripts.” It’s everything that makes DOOM great – soulful production, bizarre bars that still make sense, and an awkward delivery that still glides across the tract. Quintessential DOOM.

This album has great production. Which beat is the best?

William: “Hey!”

Come on, this is the obvious answer. DOOM gets praise for his skills on the mic, but his production skills don’t get brought up as much. How do you sample one of Scooby-Doo’s theme songs and make it work? You can tell how eclectic his ear for music was, and you don’t hear many producers nowadays being that adventurous. They often take a famous song and don’t do anything unique with it. I’m looking at you, DJ Khaled & SZA, with that song that sampled Outkast’s “Elevators.”

Edd: “Doomsday”

“Hey!” is the most obvious answer, because on paper there is no way that track should work. But I still think the superior production goes to the title track. The Sade and Boogie Down Productions samples are absolutely elegant, Pebbles the Invisible Girl’s hook ties everything together and makes an impressive backdrop for DOOM’s rambling stream of consciousness. It’s a rap track that sounds like Saturday morning chores at your grandma’s house.

What’s the most underrated song on the record?

William: “Tick, Tick”

I think you noticed with the ranking that I had most of the songs with features lower, and it’s because I thought DOOM’s verses were better than theirs. However, I thought MF Grimm gave the best guest verse on the album, and I love how DOOM plays with the tempo of the beat and couldn’t get “Slow it down, speed it up” out of my head.

Edd: “The Mic”

Picking the most underrated track is tough because casual fans probably don’t know 95% of this album, so it’s all underrated, while underground heads celebrate 95% of it, so nothing is underrated. That’s the irony of DOOM, an artist who is equally revered and unknown at the same time. I’ll speak for myself and go with “The Mic” – it’s a track I don’t revisit all that much for some reason, but while listening to it for this post I forgot just how HARD that beat hits. It’s a moving dedication to his love of hip-hop. And it’s always great to hear Pebbles (the invisible one, not the Mercedes one) do her thing.

DOOM has punchlines for days but what’s the most memorable verse here?

William: “Doomsday” – verse 1

Doomsday was a great introduction to the album, and the first verse showed who he was: an MC announcing his mission statement, playful, had an incredible rhyme scheme, found new ways to spin around cliche bars, and used relevant and obscure references. I almost wanted to go with that second verse since it gave us the recurring bit of DOOM describing where he wrote the verse, but that first verse hit me more.

Edd: “Doomsday” – verse 1

The homie Will nailed it, it’s verse one of “Doomsday” for me too. “Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!” That’s a audio daily double/Rappers need to fall off just to save me the trouble,” is such a hilariously DOOM bar – who else would use a Jeopardy reference to slander his competition? I miss this man.

Who would you have loved to hear collaborate with DOOM?

William: I would’ve loved to hear plenty of artists work with DOOM. The big one would’ve been Earl Sweatshirt because you can hear DOOM’s influence in him. We might’ve been debating who had the better verse and rhyme scheme. That also applies to Lupe Fiasco, who I would’ve loved to see. I would’ve liked to hear Kendrick Lamar trade bars with DOOM, especially if DOOM was in his political pocket, like in his KMD days.

Edd: Easy, Tyler, the Creator. In my eyes, he’s the modern-day version of DOOM (more on that later) and I’d love to hear their brand of madness together on one track.

What are the chances we hear MF DOOM in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday film?

William: Like that fox from that Droopy cartoon said, “As we say in America, “Are you kidding?” (Slams door) In all seriousness, very, very low chance! Would it excite fans like us to hear his music play in a scene or trailer? Yes, it would! However, I doubt the guys at Marvel Studios heard of the man, and the general public probably heard of the rapper but not his music. So yeah, it’s not going to happen. I will give Marvel Comics a shoutout for their tribute to him they did earlier this year.

Edd: Do I think we hear it? No. Is it possible? Absolutely, and here’s why – playas may not remember it, but rap’s Ironman, Pretty Toney himself Ghostface Killah, actually made an appearance in the original Iron Man movie. His cameo was cut – it was a very random inclusion, so I get it – but it does show that the MCU crew has an awareness of classic hip-hop. I don’t expect “Doomsday” to be the theme song of the 2026 movie, but I wouldn’t dismiss the idea of an easter egg being thrown in. If it happens, you heard it here first!

(And if it doesn’t happen, I’m sure y’all won’t let me forget about this post)

Is Doomsday MF DOOM’s best album?

William: I love Doomsday, but it’s not his best. He would get much better after this. MM.. Food is my favorite DOOM album, but his best is Madvillainy. Madvillainy truly deserves to be considered one of the greatest albums ever. It showcased some of DOOM’s best lyricism and Madlib’s jazzy yet incredible production. It blows my mind Doom released this and MM… Food within the same year (2004) when he’s at his peak blows my mind. Outside of a few songs being three minutes, most are short and don’t have any choruses, which feels right. Almost every song has a quotable line and an impressive rhyme scheme. They’re not going by the rules, and you can see why it influenced hip-hop artists like Odd Future, Danny Brown, and JPEGMafia, and artists from different genres like Thom Yorke from Radiohead, and why DOOM was your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper. We don’t need a Madvillainy 2 because too much time has passed, and expectations are too high. Lastly, that three-track run from “All Caps” to “Rhinestone Cowboy” at the end is perfect.

Edd: It’s not DOOM’s best album, but it’s my favorite DOOM album. Will is right, his best album likely will always be Madvillainy, and I’d also put Mm..Food and even the vastly underrated Take Me To Your Leader project over Doomsday. DOOM’s discography can be hit or miss, but the good stuff is REALLY GOOD. Doomsday is probably an album of the year contender in 2024, but DOOM’s catalog is just too strong for it to crack the top 3.

What do you think DOOM’s legacy will be in hip-hop?

William: MF DOOM’s legacy could fill a whole page. He was a unique artist and master of his craft. He made it okay for rappers to embrace their inner nerd. Rappers made pop culture references, but DOOM mashed up old cartoon shows with samples you often wouldn’t hear and didn’t try to fit into what was popular. What rapper could rebrand himself, become successful with it, and have many personas? You have to applaud that he kept his anonymity up to the end. He passed on October 31, 2020 (Halloween), and we didn’t get the news until December 31, 2020 (my birthday), and that nearly brought it down, but it was so great to see how many rappers and fans posted how much he inspired and meant a lot to them. I don’t know why he’s not in the top 10 lists, but he should be because he had it all: the lyrics, the influence, the presence, and the uniqueness. Remember, it’s all caps when you spell the man’s name.

Edd: DOOM will go down as having one of the most complicated legacies in rap history. He’s unquestionably a pioneer – he was choppin’ up the soul long before Kanye and embracing his love of Marvel villains way before everyone had a Thanos punchline on their records. He was a darling of the underground scene but all but invisible to mainstream eyes. DOOM was way ahead of his time but paved the road for current artist like Tyler, the Creator to be currently embraced for their eclectic style and delivery, even though he rarely gets the credit he deserves for being a pioneer. He’s celebrated for his live shows, but was panned for having DOOM clones perform in his place (which, while infuriating for audiences, is a pretty brilliant deep comic cut). And as Will mentioned, the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death just raised more questions about the man we knew … but probably didn’t know all that well.

DOOM may be a question wrapped in an enigma but deep down, he’s an MC’s MC. His legacy is pretty much everything Will and I mentioned – a mysterious but brilliant man who manipulated the game from the shadows. A true villain.

Who are your riding with, Will or Edd? Let us know below and share your MF DOOM memories!