ALBUM REVIEW: Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes

    Four years in the making. Both of the men on this album have made their own legend throughout their entire careers - Danger Mouse is a legendary producer, and one who's been of some noteworthiness ever since he dared to sample The Beatles over Jay-Z's Black Album in what has got to be one of the coolest mash-ups I've ever heard, but that's a review for another time... Black Thought, on the other hand, had been building a reputation as one of the most efficient and prolific rappers of a generation, being the lead MC of The Roots. By the time the two allegedly began working on tracks together in 2005, they had cemented their status in the hip-hop world - this was the same year that Mouse worked on a collaborative project with the late great MF DOOM, after all. The album's bulk began work in 2018, though, although it was heavily delayed by the COVID-19 Pandemic. Here we are in 2022, and I can confidently say that the album was absolutely worth the wait. Danger Mouse's masterful production is the perfect backdrop for Black Thought's thoughtful, skillful lyricism and flows - it's impressive, poignant, and excellent crafted through and through. Hell, this may be the best rap album of the year.

    The immediate first thing I noticed with this album is the quality of the production - Danger Mouse certainly knows what he's doing, but holy shit. Every single beat and instrumental on this album sounds so fucking good. Mouse certainly knows how to flip a good sample, from the Gwen McCrae soul number that coats the opening track of "Sometimes" to the immaculate, low-key sound of "Because" that pulls from Doris & Kelley. Danger also knows how to heighten the album's mood and intensity, such as the cinematic sample from Harlem Nights on the album's closing track "Violas and Lupitas." While I'd love to go more into the samples that DM pulls from, I'm ultimately not that knowledgeable on it - what I can say with certainty, though, is that this is the best produced album that I've heard this year. It's so clean and confident sounding, and they still leave room for new additions and hooks over them, such as the choruses on "The Darkest Part" and "Because."

    Of course, Black Thought is just as significant a part in this album's equation. Black Thought's rapping on this album is just as technically impressive and densely layered as anything he's done before - the title track "Cheat Codes" has such a clean flow from Black Thought, and every bar is enveloped with complex syllable back-and-forwards that make for such an appealing reading and deconstruction. Thought's lyrical themes also hit hard, ranging from his rising success story on tracks like "No Gold Teeth," to a dark portrait of modern America on album highlight "Because," from poverty to abusive households - that song is also boosted by an excellent feature from Russ. Speaking of excellent features, "Belize" has a posthumous verse from MF DOOM, and a pretty solid one. If I had to pick a song with the best utilized features, however, I'd give massive credit to "Strangers," featuring appearances from A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels, and all four artists on the song get a great verse - Killer Mike carries the song at the very end in my opinion, though.

     I'm thoroughly impressed, although my review is admittedly belated. Danger Mouse and Black Thought bounce off each other so well musically that this project sounds like it was meant to be. Black Thought's technically rich and calculated rhymes are the perfect accompaniment to Mouse's excellently produced beats, to the point where it feels like you can't really have one without the other. Couple this with some excellent features and thoughtful lyricism, and I think you have the strongest rap album of the year up to this point - sorry, Kendrick. It may not be as grand a statement as Mr. Morale, but I can certainly call this just as satisfying - this is fucking excellent.

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Cheat Codes.