If 2020 didn’t already cause the world enough pain, on New Year’s Eve, MF DOOM’s wife Jasmine confirmed via Instagram that the legendary hip-hop artist (aka Daniel Dumile) passed away earlier this year on October 31. This was a shocking revelation for just about everyone in the music world, with artists like Flying Lotus, Danny Brown, Q-Tip, DJ Premier, El-P, Questlove, and others immediately honoring the late great rapper/producer on their social media channels.

Given all of MF DOOM’s groundbreaking recordings and contributions over a span of three decades, it only seemed right that we kick off the new year featuring one of his most recent collaborations with the instrumental Toronto-based group BADBADNOTGOOD. About a month ago, they released a brilliant new version of the 1975 Mizell Brothers produced Johnny Hammond Smith jazz-funk classic “The Chocolate Conquistadors”. This new epic seven-minute cosmic disco rendition, which features verses by MF DOOM, appears on Grand Theft Auto Online‘s recent Cayo Perica Heist update. Even though the track didn’t crack BeatCaffeine’s top 30 list (was included in the year-end playlist), it definitely was one of the notable highlights from this past year, and admittedly on repeat over the last week. Hopefully at some point we will also see a vinyl twelve-inch release of this massive gem.

As we continue to remember and celebrate one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all-time, I recommend checking out Gilles Peterson’s recent tribute to the legend on WorldWide FM, which does an incredible job looking back at DOOM’s timeless contributions.

RIP, MF DOOM.

MF DOOM & BadBadNotGood — ‘The Chocolate Conquistadors’
(Rockstar Games)