The search for clues about MF Doom, the masked rapper, led Adam Bates to some unusual places, not the least of which was a remote control car shop in Otley, West Yorkshire.
Rumour had it that Doom, who died in Leeds in 2020, spent thousands of pounds in the shop. Other sightings placed him on the indie scene at the Brudenell Social Club.
Typically, everything around the rapper is shrouded in myths, rumors, and legends. But the central question of why one of hip-hop's most beloved figures spent his final years in Leeds drove Bates and BBC 6 Music DJ Afrodjacker to try to solve the mystery in MF Doom: Long Island to Leeds.
Born in Hounslow in 1971, the rapper, whose real name was Daniel Dumile Thompson, died at 49 in St James's Hospital in Leeds from a lack of oxygen in the brain, due to a reaction to a blood pressure medication.
The fact that he was in Leeds after being banned from entering the US in 2010 was news to many, including Bates, a journalist and mega-fan of Doom. "In a way, his story is a tragedy," says Bates. "He was betrayed by many institutions worldwide."
In the podcast Doom-heads, featuring comedian Romesh Ranganathan, Doom-heads discuss the rapper's brilliance, who, along with his brother, DJ Subroc, became known as the duo KMD in the late 1980s. After his brother's death in a car accident in 1993, Daniel Dumile Thompson re-emerged in 1999 with a new image and voice, called MF Doom, with the album Operation: Doomsday.
His new masked image and voice were inspired by superhero and comic book culture. His recordings, including his 2004 collaboration with Madlib, Madvillainy, are considered some of the best hip-hop records ever made. "No one could tell a story like he could," says Afrodjacker. "It was funny, intelligent, you couldn't stop listening."
Doom's legacy is disputed. His wife and former A&R have recently settled a long-running lawsuit over his notebooks, and specific details about his life in Britain are scarce. "Many don't want to talk," says Bates. "The family is very suspicious of who's doing what and why."
This uncertainty, it seems, only fuels interest in the rapper, who was once described as "a stubborn and inimitable genius like Mingus." Modern musicians, including Yassin Bey, continue to perform his tracks, with new reissues of his work abundant, and a new illustrated biography by Faber adding to the growing Doom bibliography. His lyrics were also included in Marvel's first new comic about Doctor Doom in 20 years.
Why he was in Britain is clear: despite arriving in the US as a baby, he never obtained citizenship or residency in the country. In 2010, after returning from a tour, a border official banned him from entering, partly because he had a criminal record from the 1990s.
He then found himself only able to travel to Britain, meaning he had to leave his wife and children in Atlanta. In 2023, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust apologized for the inadequate care he received. "What surprised me most was how he was treated," says Afrodjacker. "It broke my heart – he was a humble man."
Finally, the couple can't figure out why Doom moved to Leeds. Does Bates want to solve the mystery of Doom's time in Leeds? "I don't think it's an anticlimax – the best ending for us is that the mystery continues."
