Residents of Richmond, Virginia have honoured the late MF DOOM by naming a street sweeper MF BROOM.
The New York rapper and producer, who died in 2020, received the posthumous tribute after coming out top of a crowdsourced naming contest.
Community organisation Venture Richmond handled the naming by gathering ideas from city residents and organising polls on Twitter.
Besides MF BROOM, other potential names for the street sweeper included Kate Brush, Meryl Sweep, Dirt Reynolds, LeBroom James, and The Grim Sweeper, the latter of which made it to the final round of voting before losing 59 per cent to 41 per cent to MF BROOM.
The Grim Sweeper vs. MF BROOM
— Venture Richmond (@VentureRVA) August 3, 2022
“The people have spoken!” Venture Richmond tweeted. “We crowdsourced name ideas, you voted, and the name of the new @DPW_RichmondVAbike lane sweeper is… MF BROOM.” According to Venture Richmond, the city of Richmond will even host a naming ceremony for the street sweeper, with details to be announced soon. “Until then, enjoy your clean bike lanes!”
MF DOOM, whose real name was Daniel Dumile, has received other honours. Last year, a street block in Long Beach, New York was officially been renamed to honour his memory.
Named ‘KMD – MF DOOM Way’, the street runs between Long Beach Boulevard and Riverside Boulevard where the rapper and his brother, Dingilizwe, spent their childhoods. The ‘KMD’ part of its name nods to the titular hip-hop group DOOM formed in the ‘90s with Dingilizwe (aka DJ Subroc).
Thom Yorke also shared a new remix of the late rapper’s ‘Gazzillion Ear’.
Meanwhile, an extensive new MF DOOM biography is in the works.
The news was confirmed in May by publisher Astra House who announced that the biography, called The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast, is being written by veteran music journalist S. H. Fernando Jr.
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