MF Doom is One of the Greatest Rapper-Producers Ever, and Operation Doomsday is Proof

But it’s the interplay between the beat and sample that’s captivating, the subtle chops of bass, keys, and vibraphone from Roy Ayers’ “No Stranger to Love / Want You” soundtracking dialogue from Marvel’s First Family.

Naturally, when fans think of the late DOOM, they think of his talent as a rapper. But it’s also important to remember that he was a skilled producer, too. That’s actually an understatement. Released 25 years ago, Operation: Doomsday is a self-contained argument for why DOOM should be seen as one of the greatest rapper-producers of all time.

When Daniel Dumile reemerged in hip-hop as DOOM, it was the reinvention of his musical narrative. Originally known as Zev Love X, Dumile abandoned the moniker after the group he was a part of, KMD, disbanded following the death of his brother, Dingilizwe Dumile, who was also a part of the group as DJ Subroc.

In reinventing himself, Dumile took on the role of not just rapper but producer for his debut as DOOM, cultivating a soundscape that contributed to his artistic worldbuilding while sounding so damn good.

This is the case right from the jump, when the album’s second song, “Doomsday,” begins with a smoothly made beat carved out of Sade’s “Kiss of Life.”

It shows how Dumile has an ear for beat-making. He takes such a small section of the end of “Kiss of Life” — Andrew Hale’s keys riding the groove of Martin Ditcham’s drums, with Sade’s angelic croon of “Ooh” ascending to the quiet storm heavens — and transforms it into a hypnotic loop.

The same can be said of several other tracks on the album: “Rhymes Like Dimes” with that synthesizer bounce from Quincy Jones’ “One Hundred Ways”; “Go With the Flow” with its descending soulful melody from The Spinners’ “Ain’t No Price on Happiness”; “Red and Gold” with those hard-hitting electronic drums and striking synths from The Deele’s “Shoot ‘Em Up Movies”; and “?” with those plinking keys from The Isaac Hayes Movement’s “Vykkii.”

And then there’s “Gas Drawls,” a brilliant display of beat crafting surgery that takes a part of Victor Feldman’s Fender Rhodes piano solo on Steely Dan’s classic “Black Cow,” and builds a boom-bap beat around it.

However, one of the more fascinating instrumentals on Doomsday has to be the one for “Tick, Tick…,” a track that doubles down on the psychedelic strangeness of its sample, The Beatles’ “Glass Onion,” by slowing down and speeding up, making for a disorienting but compelling beat.

That free-wheeling, experimental approach has resonated with artists from all areas of hip-hop, with one of them being Open Mike Eagle. “He was the ultimate manifestation of being able to make a really successful career based on making the music that appeals to me,” Open Mike Eagle told Vice in 2021. “The music that draws me to rap to begin with, in terms of the freedom to sample and rhyme over whatever loop appeals to you. To be motivated to go as crazy with the wordplay as possible.”

As Dumile’s career continued, fans would get to experience more of his producing prowess on albums like Take Me to Your Leader (under his other alias, King Geedorah), Special Herbs + Spices Volume and, of course, Mm..Food, which would include self-produced fan-favorites like “Hoe Cakes” and “Rapp Snitch Knishes.” But it all began with Operation: Doomsday, an early but promising foreshadowing of how great Dumile would become as a rapper and producer, worthy of being acknowledged among other rapper-producer luminaries like Q-Tip, J Dilla, RZA and others. Doomsday first epitomized the production approach that would make him a legend to be reckoned with on the beats and on the mic.

“That’s the nature of the production style of Doom, the obvious/not-obvious, the in-between.

Using what you have to make something totally new,” Dumile said of Doomsday’s production in a 2005 Stones Throw interview. “I’ve had a limited number of [records] then. I was like, yo, there’s something in-between that I have to get,” he added. “There’s infinite amounts of layers and dimensions, it’s just, which one can you tap into?”