Within a month, two different once-in-a-lifetime artists have passed away, MF DOOM and SOPHIE. These artists were trailblazers, creating music that pushed the boundaries of genres and music as a whole. They each had aspects of their music that were so forward thinking that no one had ever heard music quite like it before. Both of them kept their identity hidden, especially compared to the average artist, as well as went through personal hardships that helped shape them into the artists that they became. I figured that most people reading these posts haven’t heard these artists, or realize why they’ve changed music for the better, so I’m here to explain their legacy. Without further ado, let’s look into these pillars of the music industry, starting with hip hop’s favorite villain.
Daniel Dumile was born in the UK in 1971 and grew up in Long Island, NYC. At 17 years old, he formed a rap group with his brother called KMD. After being picked up by a record label, they released their debut album in 1991 and became a voice for many people. They even testified in front of the US Senate in support of the “Motor Voter” bill that would allow people to receive their driver’s license at the DMV and register to vote at the same time. They were gearing up to release their follow up album in 1993 when his brother was struck by a car and killed. Due to the loss of his brother, the album being named Black Bastards, and the controversial album art of a racist cartoon being hung, the group was dropped by the label and the album was shelved. Daniel was left with nothing and was “damn near homeless” for the next few years, living in both Matahatten and Atlanta. All of this would lead up to the moment MF DOOM was born.
There’s not a specific day that MF DOOM was born or invented, but his debut album was released in 1999 called Operation: Doomsday. He was a new character that would embody Dumile the rest of his life. The character was inspired mainly by Doctor Doom from the Marvel comic books and they even share the same notable characteristic, the mask. MF DOOM would always wear a mask from that day forward, and there has been no picture of him since his KMD days of him without a mask, even with his family. He became this character every time he was in public, which was few and far between. It also signified his shift to his villainous persona both as a person and his music.
He was like a comic book villain come to life and became an incredible rapper, and that resonated with a large portion of the comic book reading audience. His rhyming was unlike anything ever heard before, sometimes even rhyming an entire bar with the same sound and having it somehow make sense. There’s only a couple people that have ever come close to his rhyming patterns, but they didn’t have the smooth flow or deep voice that he had. But as much as fans loved DOOM in the music, the real life consequences weren’t always accepted. He wasn’t always fond of performing, so he would sometimes send DOOM bots to perform for him on stage, and because of the mask, it would sometimes take a while for people to realize they’ve been conned by the ultimate villain himself. There was one particular time where frustrated fans stole all his merch and threw trash on stage. It was something that the character of MF DOOM would do in real life, but it left fans split on if it was ethical or not to con your fans like this.
MF DOOM continued to expand his universe after Operation Doomsday, creating two different characters to release albums under. King Geedorah is a three headed giant dragon based off of the Godzilla character by the same name, and only had one album that had him function mainly as a producer. Viktor Vaughn was another play off Doctor Doom, but this time off of his real name (Victor Von). He was described as a “time traveling street hustler” and ended up with two albums to his name. These three projects add to his universe in both lore and just being great projects, but what would come in early 2004 would change not only his life, but hip hop as a whole.
Madvillainy was released in March 2004 and was a collaboration album between MF DOOM and Madlib. This is considered as each of their masterpieces and one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Madlib brought together samples from the middle of nowhere that almost any MC would stumble over, but DOOM attacked them with such veracity and ease that it’s actually mind blowing. For example, the verse on “Meat Grinder” is filled to the brim with rhymes of every kind, but still manages to tell a story. You don’t even have to listen to the words to be impressed, but rather the sounds of the words and how frequently they come is insane. Madlib is still a big reason why this album is special though, as his production helped bring DOOM slightly out of his comfort zone. Not many people can make a beat out of an accordion and have it be one of the most iconic hip hop songs of the 2000s, but Madlib could. “All Caps” is a personal favorite sample flip, especially the piano that drives the track. It also has one of DOOM’s most iconic lines, “Just remember all caps when you spell the man’s name”. Madvillainy is likely the most iconic and popular underground hip hop ever and something that every hip hop fan needs to hear.
MF DOOM would go on to release another classic album that year called MM...FOOD. This project shows DOOM’s capability as a producer, as he produced 13 of the 16 songs on this project. His samples help bring DOOM’s overarching comic book theme to life, especially during the four song skit suite in the middle of the album. MF DOOM always has some incredible wordplay, but his production is what makes MM...FOOD considered his next best album. He even released a plethora of instrumental albums in his Special Herbs series under the name Metal Fingers. There are 10 different volumes of this series, spanning over four hours of clever instrumental loops that put him way above the average producer.
The next decade and a half showed MF DOOM still putting in some work, just at a slower pace. He still had some notable projects with The Mouse and the Mask and Born Like This, but he started to fade a bit in the background during the 2010s. He was still respected as a legend, but it was just to the point where he couldn’t live up to his undeniable classics. Everyone in hip hop still knew that DOOM was not one to be reckoned with, even in his older state, but the full project full of incredible verses just wasn’t happening. This could likely be due to him and his wife having a child, who sadly passed away in late 2017 at the age of 14.
On December 31st, 2020, MF DOOM’s wife posted on social media to announce that DOOM had passed away two months earlier on October 31st. His death shook the hip hop world and had seemingly everyone offering their condolences. Even his close collaborators, like Madlib and Flying Lotus, didn’t know of his passing during those two months where his family was grieving. Flying Lotus had even released a new MF DOOM song on his GTA V radio station without knowing that DOOM had passed away. Many people would release song tributes to him including Open Mike Eagle, Aesop Rock, Joseph Chilliams, and Logic to just name a few. It’s kind of fitting that someone this secretive with his personal life would be able to hide his death from the world for multiple months, as well as hide the cause to this day. The ultimate hip hop villain played his final trick.
SOPHIE is both easier and harder to talk about. Easier because her discography is a lot shorter, but harder since she’s been one of my personal favorite electronic artists for the past few years. SOPHIE grew up in Glasgow Scotland and by age of 10, she knew she wanted to be an electronic artist and was already making music. Her career really took off with the 2013 track “Bipp”. The track contained a lot of what ended up making her popular; pitched up and feminine vocals, skittering synths, clever use of negative space, and a bubbling energy that makes the listener feel good. It helped jump start her career and left most listeners at the time in shock.
Over the next couple years, she released 7 more singles that would make up her first project, a compilation EP titled Product. It showed just how unique and forward thinking her music really is, to the point where there’s still not many people making music like this today. “VYZEE” is one of the most rave-ready anthems I’ve ever heard. “JUST LIKE WE NEVER SAID GOODBYE” is an emotional ending over this drumless instrumental that relies heavily on SOPHIE’s vocals. “LEMONADE” relies heavily on new sonic textures like people had never heard before, so much so that it was even used in a McDonald’s ad. She still brings some of the hardcore, electronic bangers in the middle of this project. “HARD” takes the listener on a journey throughout the entire three minute track by throwing them into different sounds seemingly at random. “MSMSMSM” is the closest to a dubstep-influenced track that’s on this project, but the devil is really in the details with this one, as well as most of SOPHIE’s material.
While she was creating these otherworldly singles, she was also producing for other artists that brought more attention to her work. Some of her earlier production was for Madonna and QT, but 2016 is when SOPHIE really got started with producing for others. Charli XCX was coming off of a chart topping feature on Iggy Azalea's “Fancy” and her own hit with “Boom Clap", but she wanted a change. Instead of making electro-pop for today, why not make some electro-pop for the future? And of course, there’s no better way to start off that sound than with SOPHIE. Together, they made a four song EP called Vroom Vroom that still has some of Charli’s most iconic songs. SOPHIE continued to work with Chali for the next few years, but her next big production moment was for the west coast rapper Vince Staples. SOPHIE is a big part of why “Yeah Right” is one of Vince Staples’ biggest songs, but the rest of the song is a murderers row of artists as well. Vince is already a fantastic rapper, Kendrick Lamar shows up for a surprise feature, Flume adds additional production, and Kucka lends some beautiful vocals to the bridge. This song is still Vince’s closer whenever he performs live, even years after it was released. During the same time as those above, she was also in the studio with Rihanna and Lady Gaga, but neither one of those collabs has ever officially been released. All of these lead up to her first single for her debut album and biggest moment of her career, “It’s Ok to Cry”.
Nothing SOPHIE had ever made before prepared fans for “It’s Ok to Cry”. It’s a minimalistic, art-pop track that shows SOPHIE using her un-pitched voice for the first time ever on a song. But as beautiful as the song is on its own, the context behind it makes it special. This was the first time SOPHIE has had a video for her song, and the first time she has shown her bare face in public. Because this is the first time SOPHIE had shown herself to the public, it was also the first time that people learned she is transgender. The video is just SOPHIE singing the song directly to camera while being fully accepting of herself, the same theme that the song itself has too. She’s not conforming to any gender or letting any stereotypes define her, SOPHIE is being truly authentic to herself.
With even more boundaries taken down for what we previously thought SOPHIE could do and a couple more singles released, she released her debut album Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides. At just under 40 minutes, this project covers more ground that most artists can do in their entire careers. It sounds like something that would be released in 2070, not 2018. Even the cover art screams futuristic. It’s SOPHIE sitting on a platform above some water, but dressed in some outlandish dress looking that makes her look like an otherworldly being brought down from above. It’s a striking picture that no one else could pull off, and I don’t think anyone else could pull off an album quite like this one.
SOPHIE’s previous sounds find their way on here, just in blown out proportions. The bangers of Product are back, but instead of being experimental club anthems, they’re behemoths of bass and distortion that rattle any sound system. “Ponyboy” comes right after “It’s Ok to Cry” and brings the album from a thoughtful, introspective introduction to an all out sonic assault consisting of maybe the most distorted bass I’ve ever heard driving the track along. “Faceshopping” continues the sonic direction but somehow even more experimental and genre-pushing. As the title suggests, the song goes into the effects of photoshop on people that have to use their face for their living. It’s also one of the many tracks that show how incredible SOPHIE is at changing the vibe of a song instantaneously, as this one going from another bass heavy experimental drop to a glistening synth ballad at the drop of a hat.
The next two songs are also extremely similar. Both are beautiful, synth heavy tracks with Cecile Believe on vocals. “Is It Cold in the Water?” is full of these arpeggiating synths that act like a wave, alluding to the title. They just wash over the entire track and mesh perfectly with Cecile’s vocals. “Infatuation” builds perfectly over the almost five minute runtime to this incredible high towards the end of the track. It looks into the obsession that people have with both celebrities and people you love. The next two tracks are a bit simple, but still noteworthy. “Not Okay” reaches back to the bangers that started out the album, but in a smaller and more random capacity. “Pretending” is SOPHIE’s first endeavor into ambient territory, and she comes away successful. The six minute journey is a perfect break for all the supernatural sounds during the first part of the album.
**Flash Warning**
There is one traditional club banger on here though, this time it’s called “Immaterial”. It still has traditional chipmunked vocals that we’ve come to know from SOPHIE, but the production is even shinier and more mainstream than her other songs. If any song of SOPHIE’s was going to get huge, it would be this song. The project ends with a nine minute odyssey called “Whole New World/Pretend World”. There’s no other way to describe it besides that it helps show the listener what kind of world SOPHIE must be living in to create sounds like this. The album was widely acclaimed by every publication and was even nominated for a Grammy for best dance/electronic album. It made her the first ever transgender person to be nominated for this award and one of three that year for the first transgender people ever nominated at the Grammys.
The album cycle didn’t end with the last song though, as a year later she released a two sided remix album spanning over 90 minutes in length. They’re perfect projects for a club atmosphere, as SOPHIE could probably just press play on the remix album and have that be the DJ set. She had been constantly working on music since the release of the album in 2018. A month after Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides was released, SOPHIE said there were three more albums that year. Two of these could’ve been the remix albums released the next year, but there is still at least one more album’s worth of material not yet released that she had ready in 2018. SOPHIE would constantly play new music live, so there was always being new music teased. SOPHIE’s last “project” is a live streamed show called HEAV3N SUSPENDED that consists of almost 20 minutes of new music, mainly ambient and slightly unfinished material. 2021 was the year where it seemed like another SOPHIE project or new singles were bound to come. She even had a couple official releases in the past few weeks, including a remix of “Bipp” and an official release of her 2015 bonus track “Unsil”.
SOPHIE passed away on the morning of January 30th in Athens, Greece. The statement given to the public gives slight insight into what happened, “Tragically our beautiful SOPHIE passed away this morning after a terrible accident. True to her spirituality she had climbed up to watch the full moon and accidentally slipped and fell.” It’s just a cruel reminder how fragile life is that someone larger than life could be taken away easily. She wasn’t having any ongoing medical issue, any demons that she was trying to cope with, or any underlying conditions; it was an accident in the purest form. SOPHIE’s music will continue to live on and inspire people for the foreseeable future. It’s already influenced a plethora of people including acts already getting lots of attention like 100 gecs, Rina Sawayama, Finneas, and many more. When the time comes for this sound to break into the mainstream, I hope SOPHIE gets her credit for inspiring this sound. It’s almost similar to J Dilla, someone who was already making humongous waves in his genre but was taken away too soon and now “low fi beats to study to” is huge and all are influenced by J Dilla, just not as good. I hope SOPHIE is remembered in the same way that Dilla is and has her legacy grow into something worthy of her music.
**Flash Warning**
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