Cheat Codes
Black Thought may be best-known as part of The Roots, performing night after late night for Jimmy Fallon’s TV audience, yet the Philadelphia native concurrently boasts a staggering reputation as a stand-alone rapper. Though he’s earned GOAT nods from listeners for earth-shaking features alongside Big Pun, Eminem, and Rapsody, his solo catalog long remained relatively modest in size. Meanwhile, Danger Mouse had a short yet monumental run in the 2000s that made him one of that decade’s most beloved and respected producers. His discography from that period contains no shortage of microphone dynamos, most notably MF DOOM (as DANGERDOOM) and Goodie Mob’s CeeLo Green (as Gnarls Barkley). Uniting these low-key hip-hop powerhouses is the stuff of hip-hop dreams, the kind of fantasy-league-style draft you’d encounter on rap message boards. Yet *Cheat Codes* is real—perhaps realer than real. Danger Mouse’s penchant for quirkily cinematic, subtly soulful soundscapes remains from the old days, but the growth from his 2010s work with the likes of composer Daniele Luppi gives “Aquamarine” and “Sometimes” undeniable big-screen energy. Black Thought luxuriates over these luxurious beats, his lyrical lexicon put to excellent use over the feverish funk of “No Gold Teeth” and the rollicking blues of “Close to Famous.” As if their team-up wasn’t enough, an intergenerational cabal of rapper guests bless the proceedings. From living legend Raekwon to A$AP Rocky to Conway the Machine, New York artists play a pivotal role here. A lost DOOM verse, apparently from *The Mouse and the Mask* sessions, makes its way onto the sauntering and sunny “Belize,” another gift for the fans.
After nearly two decades of on-off collaborations, the veteran musicians finally reach the finish line with their first full-length together, yielding a dozen tracks of solid, bare-bones hip-hop.
The generationally-acclaimed modern greats are at their best on a long-awaited collaboration that constantly delights
Densely layered and sophisticated, these tracks immediately feel like familiar favourites
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Brian Joseph Burton, also known as Danger Mouse, has been a prominent producer for the past two decades.
Black Thought’s unmistakably passionate rhyme style has flowed for over 30 years, yet outside of the Roots, he hasn’t had a proper, standalone album where
Razor-sharp US rapper Black Thought and his one-time acolyte, now super-producer, Danger Mouse, finally get it together on an album that’s a nonstop joy
Danger Mouse and Black Thought have gone back to their old school hip hop origins together – and it's brilliant
Cheat Codes by Danger Mouse & Black Thought album review by Robert Duguay. The LP is out today via and DSPs
Contemplating everything from hip-hop to the human condition, the ebullient and long-awaited collaboration is awash with cinematic beats and vivid rhymes
An impressively star-studded collaboration, but not the modern classic they’d hoped for