In 1997, after the death of his brother DJ Subroc and the rejection of KMD's album "Black Bastards" by Elektra Records four years previously, rapper Zev Love X returned to music as the masked rapper MF Doom. In 1999, he released his debut solo album "" on Fondle 'Em Records. According to Nathan Rabin of "The A.V. Club", the album "has attained mythic status; its legend has grown in proportion to its relative unavailability". Soon after release of the album, in an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Madlib stated that he wanted to collaborate with two artists: J Dilla and Doom.