S.H. Fernando Jr. – The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast (2024)
A singular, mischievous and meticulous artist, carefully unpacked.
December 2024 • Non-fiction
“It happened, you know? It happened like anything else happens. It’s just a happening. You don’t figure out happenings.”
— Bob Dylan, to a reporter, when asked to explain his popularity (1965)
As listeners, and as fans of music, we want to figure out how brilliance came to be. To find out how a fuse was lit, to learn when and where the air started crackling with a certain creative electricity. To be able to point a finger and say this here, this is it—we solved the puzzle.
Time and again we tell and retell the stories of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, of J Dilla's Donuts, or Radiohead's OK Computer, because timeless creation captivates endlessly.
Fernando Jr. took it upon himself to unpack the myth of Daniel Dumile (DOO-mə-lay), a rapper and producer primarily known as DOOM, who passed away in 2020, aged 49. DOOM was lauded by his peers and cherished by his fans: a singular musician, often described as “your favourite rapper's favourite rapper”, the height of his towering figure allowing him to peek his head out into the mainstream, yet choosing to keeping his feet firmly planted in the underground.
My initial worry was for the unpacking to break the spell. I was worried I'd discover that he tried too hard, disappointed too many people, or that knowing too much about his come-up or his process would undermine his output. Fortunately, this book doesn't begin to threaten his mystique; it enhances it.
DOOM carved his own path and approached the creation of rap music differently than anyone did or had ever done before him. Wearing a metal mask (allowing him to slip into character as the Supervillain), he reached great heights in the 00s by crafting a clump of characters and building a universe not unlike the comic book series and monster movies he admired. In comparison, the braggadocio of his peers was boring. DOOM was like a director, an arranger. He was funny, mischievous—a prankster. Often referring to himself in the third person, everything he did had an air of playfulness—like he didn't take himself too seriously so that he could produce work that others would.
Through this book I learned just how incredibly deliberate he was. He considered himself a writer first, penning different characters, different scenes, and approached his music as if he were writing novels, scripts, or even stand-up comedy—the latter confirming the laugh-out-loud nature of his work. Here he is in an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, back in 2009:
“When I’m doing a DOOM record, I’m arranging it, I’m finding the voices. All I have to do is listen to it and think, Oh shit, that will be funny. I write down whatever would be funny, and get as many ‘whatever would’ funnies in a row and find a way to make them all fit. There’s a certain science to it. In a relatively small period of time, you want it to be, That’s funny, that’s funny, that’s funny, that’s funny. I liken it to comedy standup.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Fernando Jr. traces DOOM's universe with great care—his outstanding biography precisely outlines his life and work, and makes it abundantly clear how meticulous DOOM was in his approach. As with any musician's biography, it helps to know (of) his music to appreciate the deep cuts, but if you're less familiar, the book also succeeds as an absorbing chronicle of the inner workings of the (hiphop) music industry and its (underground) labels.
Through conversations with his peers and loved ones and past interviews and material, the author paints a picture of the man, of the myth and of the legend that will leave no fan unsatisfied, confirms his status as a wonderfully caring individual, and hopefully highlights his universal genius for those less familiar with his unique body of work.
The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap's Masked Iconoclast by S.H. Fernando Jr.
Published by Astra House in 2024
One book recommendation, once per month.
Book #22 • December 2024
