Editing MF Doom (section)

===1997–2001: ''Operation: Doomsday'' and production work===
In 1997 or 1998,{{efn|Sources differ on when precisely Dumile first performed with his face obscured.}} Dumile began freestyling incognito at [[Open mic|open-mic]] events at the [[Nuyorican Poets Café]] in Manhattan, obscuring his face by putting tights over his head.<ref name="bbc20201231"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Nemtusak |first=Brian |date=August 12, 2004 |title=MF Doom |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mf-doom/Content?oid=916369|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101051505/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mf-doom/Content?oid=916369|archive-date=January 1, 2021|access-date=January 1, 2021 |website=[[Chicago Reader]]}}</ref> He turned this into a new identity, MF Doom, with a mask similar to that of [[Marvel Comics]] supervillain [[Doctor Doom]].{{sfn|Young|2014|p=59}} He later adopted a mask based on the one worn by Maximus, the protagonist of the 2000 film ''[[Gladiator (2000 film)|Gladiator]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.okayplayer.com/music/mf-doom-2009-interview-born-like-this.html |title=MF DOOM Discusses Origins Of His Mask, Changing His Name To DOOM And More In Resurfaced Interview |work=okayplayer.com |last=Watson |first=Elijah C. |date=January 10, 2019 |access-date=March 14, 2022}}</ref>

[[Bobbito Garcia]]'s [[Fondle 'Em Records]] released ''[[Operation: Doomsday]]'', Dumile's first full-length [[LP record|LP]] as MF Doom, in 1999.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=allah2020>{{Cite web |last=Allah |first=Sha Be |date=April 20, 2020 |title=MF DOOM's Debut Album 'Operation Doomsday' Dropped 21 Years Ago |url=https://thesource.com/2020/04/20/today-in-hip-hop-history-mf-dooms-debut-album-operation-doomsday-dropped-21-years-ago/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231231935/https://thesource.com/2020/04/20/today-in-hip-hop-history-mf-dooms-debut-album-operation-doomsday-dropped-21-years-ago/|archive-date=December 31, 2020|access-date=January 30, 2021 |website=[[The Source (magazine)|The Source]] |language=en-US}}</ref> Dumile's collaborators on ''Operation: Doomsday'' included fellow members of the [[Monsta Island Czars]] collective, for which each artist took on the persona of a monster from the [[Godzilla (franchise)|''Godzilla'']] films. Dumile went by the alias "King Geedorah",{{efn|Also spelled "Ghidora"<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Greenbacks / Go With the Flow |others=MF DOOM |year=1997 |type=liner notes |publisher=[[Fondle 'Em Records]] |id=FE-0082 |location=New York, New York}}</ref> or "Ghidra".<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=Operation: Doomsday |others=MF DOOM |year=1999 |type=liner notes |publisher=[[Fondle 'Em Records]] |id=FE-86 |location=New York, New York}}</ref>}} a three-headed golden dragon space monster modeled after [[King Ghidorah]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Jacob |date=January 30, 2012 |title=Rediscover: King Geedorah: Take Me to Your Leader |url=https://spectrumculture.com/2012/01/30/rediscover/|access-date=January 1, 2021 |website=Spectrum Culture|archive-date=January 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101051529/https://spectrumculture.com/2012/01/30/rediscover/|url-status=live}}</ref> The album's productions sampled cartoons including [[Fantastic Four (1967 TV series)|''Fantastic Four'']], something that became a staple of his music later on.<ref name=allah2020/> [[Jon Caramanica]], in a review of ''Operation: Doomsday'' for ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'', emphasized the contrast between Dumile's [[Rapping#Flow|flow]] as Zev Love X in KMD and his revised approach as a solo artist: "Doom's flow is muddy, nowhere near the sprightly rhymes of KMD's early days, and his thought process is haphazard."<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |last=Caramanica |first=Jon|author-link=Jon Caramanica |title=Operation: Doomsday |journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]] |date=August 2000 |language=en |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=50Phz-C_VzIC&pg=PA152 152]}}</ref> Caramanica revisited ''Operation: Doomsday'' in ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 2021, calling it "one of the most idiosyncratic hip-hop albums of the 1990s, and one of the defining documents of the independent hip-hop explosion of that decade".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Caramanica |first=Jon|author-link=Jon Caramanica |date=January 14, 2021 |title=MF Doom, Magician of Memory |language=en-US |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/arts/music/mf-doom-operation-doomsday.html|access-date=January 15, 2021 |issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115183140/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/arts/music/mf-doom-operation-doomsday.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Cyril Cordor, in a review for ''[[AllMusic]]'', described ''Operation: Doomsday'' as Dumile's "rawest" lyrical effort.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cordor |first=Cyril |title=Operation: Doomsday – MF Doom |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/operation-doomsday-mw0000068448 |website=[[AllMusic]] |language=en|access-date=January 30, 2021|archive-date=January 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104101624/https://www.allmusic.com/album/operation-doomsday-mw0000068448|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2001, Dumile began releasing his ''[[Special Herbs]]'' instrumentals series under the pseudonym Metal Fingers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=Josiah |date=January 14, 2011 |title=DOOM Compiles Special Herbs on LP Box Set |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/doom_compiles_special_herbs_on_lp_box_set|access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=[[Exclaim!]] |language=en-ca|archive-date=January 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131163304/https://exclaim.ca/music/article/doom_compiles_special_herbs_on_lp_box_set|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Harvell |first=Jess |date=February 25, 2011 |title=Metal Fingers / DOOM: Special Herbs: The Box Set Vol. 0–9 |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15114-special-herbs-the-box-set-vol-0-9/|access-date=January 3, 2021 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |language=en|archive-date=August 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210808053802/https://pitchfork.com/cne-player/player.html?autoplay=false&video=5a09fc8c148bb036f9000017|url-status=live}}</ref> In a review of a 2011 box set containing ten volumes of the ''Special Herbs'' series, ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' observed that the instrumentals stand on their own without vocal tracks: "most of these tracks sound plenty 'finished' even in rhyme-less form".<ref name=":5" />