SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: DANGER MOUSE & BLACK THOUGHT – CHEAT CODES

Danger Mouse & Black Thought
Cheat Codes
BMG

Perhaps best known as the lead MC for acclaimed hip-hop band – and house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – Black Thought has partnered with producer Danger Mouse (Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Keys, ASAP Rocky) to deliver their collaborative record, Cheat Codes. Not only is it Black Thought’s first full-length release since 2020, but it also features a wide range of hip-hop heavyweights including Run The Jewels, Raekwon, and what is among the final features from the late MF Doom.

Sampling Gwen McCrae’s “Love Without Sex” as the lead beat, “Sometimes” immediately transports the listener back to an age of hip-hop long gone. The warm soul tones are accented by Black Thoughts’ punching but thoughtful vocals, setting the tone for Cheat Codes. This is by no means a flashy album, rather Danger Mouse and Black Thought have delivered a rap record of substance, nuance, and heart. As the soulful, slow burner opening track bleeds into the percussive and gritty beat of the title track. “Cheat Codes” sees Black Thought at one of his finest points on this album with his biting, socially conscious lyrics bending with an effortless flow that refuses to relent, even as the beat shifts to a new section of the song.

Without a single moment of weakness, Danger Mouse and Black Thought have delivered a new rap album that already feels classic, almost as if it was unearthed from ’93. Even without featured artists, Danger Mouse’s beats breathe a rich and nostalgic sense of life into the album, allowing for Black Thought to bounce rhythms and rhythms off seamlessly as if he was playing off another artist in the booth. Grimy, lo-fi beats that feel intentionally degraded allow for the vocal performances to stand out while creating a sonic connection to a time when hip-hop was the spiritual child of classic R&B, funk, and jazz. The spare soundscape of “No Gold Teeth”, with its washy cymbals and plucked bass is nostalgic for A Tribe Called Quest while the upbeat hustle of “Strangers” leaves Black Thought, Run The Jewels, and A$AP Rocky feeling like they’re delivering a sequel to Enter The Wu-Tang. Additional highlights include Joey Bada$$, Russ, and Dylan Cartlidge’s verses on “Because”, the psychedelic and pensive jazz of “Belize” – featuring a verse that could only come from MF Doom – and Daptone Records inspire beat of “Saltwater”. All in all, Cheat Codes stands as a phenomenal display of era defying hip-hop.

An underdog himself, Black Thought has been named by some of hip-hop’s most successful rappers as one of the best MC’s in the game, yet he remains a cult icon of the underground. Your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper has aligned himself with a sensational cast of rappers you may not know by name, but most definitely show: Raekwon, one of Wu-Tang’s finest; Killer Mike, a rapper so prolific that Kendrick Lamar spat a bar about how he should be a platinum selling artist; and MF Doom, a creative powerhouse who pioneered alternative hip-hop unlike any other. In this sense, Black Thought and Danger Mouse have curated a collection of twelve fantastic songs, geared towards old-school rap fans, and filled them with verses from a community of rappers that you need to hear; ultimately making Cheat Codes a vital album for the genre and for the culture of hip-hop. Armed with gritty beats and his rhymes, Black Thought continues to prove his worth as one of the greatest MC’s with a refined take on classic hip-hop.

Danger Mouse Links

Black Thought Links