Born Like This is the third solo album released by Daniel Dumile as his MF DOOM persona, his 6th solo album overall, and the final solo album he released before his death on October 31st, 2020. Interestingly, this is the only album where “MF DOOM” is shortened to “DOOM.” The album was released on Lex Records on March 24, 2009, and debuted at #52 on the Billboard Chart, selling 10,895 copies as of March 29, 2009. In addition to tracks produced by DOOM, the album includes production by from frequent collaborator Madlib, as Madvillain, as well as J Dilla. The album title is borrowed from Charles Bukowski’s poem, “Dinosauria, We”, which employs the phrase as a cadence. A reading of the poem by Bukowski himself is used to introduce the track “Cellz.” It is an aggressive album that follows a loose storyline, and its lyricism involves verbal braggadocio and social commentary on police brutality and the ghetto condition. Pitchfork ranked Born Like This #48 in their “500 best albums of 2009”. Born Like This was put on Soundcloud on March 27, 3 days after its 10th anniversary, and a “Redux” version of the album was put onto Spotify around the same time, splitting Cellz into two parts.