Masked hip-hop star MF Doom died Oct. 31 at the age of 49, it was announced Thursday.
“The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for,” his wife Jasmine wrote in an Instagram post. She did not explain why she waited two months to share news of his death and did not divulge a cause of death.
“Crushing news,” tweeted QTip. Tyler, The Creator wrote: “Safe travels villain.” A tweet from Ty Dolla $ign read: “MF DOOM FOREVER!”
Born Daniel Dumile in London, England, his family moved to Long Island, New York when he was a child. He took an early interest in hip-hop and, as Zev Love X, started KMD with his younger brother.
Dumile stepped back from the scene in 1993 when his brother was killed in a car accident. He re-emerged in the late ‘90s as MF Doom – his face behind a mask inspired by Marvel’s Doctor Doom – and released Operation Doomsday.
His 2003 sophomore album Take Me to Your Leader was recorded under the name King Geedorah and for a pair of follow-ups he used the name Viktor Vaughn. He collaborated with other artists on a string of projects using a variety of pseudonyms.
Dumile suffered another personal loss in December 2017, when son King Malachi Ezekiel died at 14. No cause of death was revealed at the time.