Hip-Hop

MF Doom and Brand Desctruction

I’ve been reading Clyde’s ProHipHop blog for quite a while now, and he’s written several posts about “brand destruction” in the music industry. The term is defined just like you think it is, and it is all too common in today’s hyper exposed music marketplace. There are many examples of this is the music industry–most recently Rick Ross, as well as cocaine starlets like Britney and Lindsay Lohan. However, this type of behavior is not just for pop stars–MF Doom is making sure that underground hip-hop heads are equally represented.

Doom has always been one of my favorite rappers, ever since the time when he was with KMD in the early nineties. When he reinvented himself as Doom, his stock rose in my eyes, and I even go to bat for his collaboration with Danger Mouse–Dangerdoom, which was one of the best albums of ‘05.

But all that work may be down the drain. There has been speculation floating around the internets for months that Doom has been using impostors for his live gigs. See, I guess when you perform in a mask, its easy to fake your true identity. There hasn’t been any actual proof that this is the case, but this past weekend at Rock The Bells, a masked man looking nothing like Doom, took the stage and got booed and pelted and subsequently left the stage.

The MF Doom “brand” is tainted at this point. The biggest thing you can do as an artist is play your fans for fools, and the fact that Doom hasn’t stepped up to the plate with a defense against these accusations makes it even worse. Some people believe that this is all some marketing plan for his upcoming album. If that were the case, he needs to fire his PR people with the quickness.

For the most part, Doom’s touring career is basically over. The only way that he can resurrect himself now is to drop a press release saying that he has a medical condition, or better yet….dead. I highly doubt that fans will accept him in any other circumstance.

Tags: MF Doom, Rock The Bells

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