Video for Alternative Version of MF DOOM Song “Dead Bent” to be Released as NFT to Raise Money for His Kids

MF DOOM’s estate is releasing another NFT. This time it’s an alternate version of the music video for his song “Dead Bent.” Half the proceeds from the auction will go towards helping with DOOM’s kids.

The auction began today, April 28 at 12:00 p.m. ET and will last for 24 hours. As of the time of posting, it’s still listed for its reserve price of 99 ETH, which is currently worth just under $270,000. The winner of the NFT auction will also receive the original 16mm film negative, as well as documentation on the shoot and its original canister label. Adam Bhala Lough is hosting the auction on his foundation’s website.

Lough is the original director of the video, which he filmed during the same shoot as the official video that he made for the track. It was shot on Kodak 7231 Plus-X negative black and white 16mm film. The director claims that he and the colorist behind the remaster of the video are the only people who have ever seen the alternate cut. Lough was also the director for the official “?” video. 

“Dead Bent” is a cut from MF DOOM’s 1999 classic Operation: Doomsday. The song shows off the rapper’s creative lyrical style, with lines like “Scientific going berserk like Red Alert/I really went to pick up wiznork for cheddar dirt/To fund these experiments is where I went/Obviously dead bent, and spent every red cent.” The sample underneath is Isaac Hayes’ classic track “Walk On By.”

The official video shows two versions of DOOM on split-screen, one in black-and-white played in reverse and one in color played normally. In it, DOOM is simply seen rapping as he picks up some healthy fruits from a local store. Lough previously commented on this decision by saying “My idea was to shoot a video that had no edits – just one shot, in the same way that the song was one uninterrupted verse. DOOM would spit the verse while walking from the apartment in 205 down to the deli in front, where he’d steal some fruit and run off, all the while holding a mic in his hand. Then I came up with another idea: I’d shoot the scene twice, once forwards and once backwards, and put them together in a single split screen. We shot the first side of the split screen in black and white and the other in color. There was no real reason for these choices; I just did it for the sake of experimentation – I was making these videos for my ‘Experimental Film’ class, after all.”

MF DOOM passed away last October, but the news wasn’t revealed until December. He was very influential rapper, as remembered by his contemporaries. His estate also previously auctioned off NFTs for animated renditions of his iconic mask, which he had reportedly planned prior to his passing.