Your Playlist: MF DOOM

Banished, by MF DOOM (Daniel Dumile), a collaboration with Jneiro Jarel, opens with: “Villain got banished/Refused out the U.S., he ain’t even Spanish.” Other sweet lyrics: "No, not deported/ Be a little minute before things get sorted."

Over at Pitchfork, Noah Yoo has the skinny about DOOM, and his "Lifelong Struggle With the U.S. Immigration System."

This article is worth a READ. Seriously. Quick version:

DOOM came to the US on a B2 visa as an infant in 1971. His mom (an immigrant from Trinidad) filed a family-based petition for him when he was three. The petition was approved but was never followed up by a visa application, apparently because his mother didn't have the money to pursue it. In 1993, he pled guilty to misdemeanor third-degree assault, paid a fine and restitution, and served probation. In the course of his rap career, he went to Canada in 2004 and had trouble returning to the US. He said he thought he was a USC or LPR; he was neither. He sought registry. The government served an RFE and ultimately denied the application saying the request for evidence wasn't responded to. He left the country again on tour, and was deemed inadmissible upon his return in 2011 based upon: (i) not having a visa, (ii) CIMT, (iii) unlawful presence. He tried to enter again in 2012, and again was denied. In an interview with Q magazine in 2012, he said: “I’m done with the United States, it’s no big deal.” DOOM died in 2020.

Y'all, the exam just writes itself!

-KitJ