3. The Mask of DOOM

For many people, their first encounter with MF DOOM comes not with the music, but with the rapper’s iconic mask and visual identity, which has taken on a life of its own. Adam Batty and AFRODEUTSCHE explore the cult appeal of this aspect of his character and meet with graffiti writers and bootleg artists that have taken the DOOM aesthetic and pushed it into the stratosphere, co-opting it into their own work.

Following a successful world tour, MF DOOM finds himself barred from re-entry into the country that he has called home for the past four decades and is forced into exile. AFRODEUTSCHE and Adam Batty look at the extraordinary circumstances that led to MF DOOM being barred from the country that he called home for almost forty years, and seek to answer the question of how one of New York’s greatest rap talents found himself at odds with the US immigration system?

Speculation about his whereabouts runs wild online, with rumours and sightings of the rapper in Paris, the Caribbean and even further afield, before several curious encounters place the Supervillain in London.

MF DOOM: Long Island to Leeds is a Persephonica production with BBC Sounds Audio Lab.