MF Doom: The saga continues
Friday, January 11th, 2008
In case you still haven’t read our story on the MF Doom concert at MJQ, here’s a quick recap and some new info about Doom’s alleged Doombots plot.
Atlanta promoter Randy Castello had heard all the accusations that rapper MF Doom sometimes lip-synchs at his concerts, and has even sent impersonators in his place. But when Castello, a huge Doom fan, got the opportunity to put together a concert featuring the masked MC, he was undeterred.
“I was going into the show thinking that I’m going to be that guy who pulls off a successful MF Doom show,†he says.
But it was not to be. As we reported in this week’s paper, fans are again angrily accusing Doom of sending someone else to rap in his place at his mid-December show at MJQ Concourse. “There’s no way it was MF Doom,†concert-goer Jeff Hoffman says.
Castello even accuses Doom’s entourage of stealing his percentage of the door receipts. In the angry missive he sent out via MySpace, he listed a phone number and address that he says belong to Doom, and encouraged show attendees to pursue a refund directly from him.
Doom himself could not be reached for comment, and we don’t know what really happened that night, although videos of the show posted to a blog called the Kaos Effect (by Senor Kaos) make a pretty convincing case for irregularities. There’s no doubt, however, that something smells funky in Doomland.
The Atlanta-area rapper, who got his start alongside his younger brother in KMD and went on to Billboard success with an Adult Swim-sponsored collaboration with DJ Danger Mouse, has long been accused of reneging on business deals and forsaking former friends and collaborators such as MF Grimm. (Read more in this Village Voice story.)
But things got especially hairy in 2007. After the San Francisco show in August where he was accused of not showing up, he missed a New York concert in September and it was announced that he was in the hospital. His label Stones Throw quickly issued a statement claiming that was not the case.
It gets better. According to a rumor posted on the blog Fake Shore Drive, this may be part of an elaborate marketing scheme designed to promote Doom’s next album:
“…this past weekend C-Rayz Walz, a frequent Doom collaborator and old friend, was here in Chicago and we were discussing Doom and his antics. C-Rayz claims that Doom is an absolute genius and is sending out these fake Doom’s to gear up for the release of his next album ‘Doompostor.’ Apparently, on the next album Doom will discuss this in-depth (but when have you heard Doom discuss anything in-depth?)â€
Who knows what the future holds for this guy. But whatever it is, it should be pretty damn interesting.
