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Danger Doom

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Danger Doom
Danger Doom
Danger Doom is the partnership of super-producer Danger Mouse and masked veteran rapper MF Doom. This project landed in 2005 and finds both beatmaker and rapper at the peak of their powers. Although it was their only album together, The Mouse and The Mask, is an "underground" hip hop album you can listen to endlessly. I don’t know how I came across it, but I’m sure glad I did. I remember their song “Crosshairs” being played on repeat on my iPod a lot. MF Doom is a legendary MC like a modern day Shakespeare (sample lyric: “Straight and narrow as the flight of the sparrow / Seat up in a beat-up Camaro / How you supposed to shoot for the moon with one arrow?”) who growls and spits with vigor and distaste. MF DOOM's emphasis on pure rhymes aren't just there for the sake of rhyming or adding motion - more a kind of construct for his semi-comic, contrasting associations ranging from the sociopolitical to the absurd. Amusing guest appearances from Aqua Teen Hunger Force and other Adult Swim cartoon characters appear throughout; great samples, catchy tunes, good balance of quality writing, and the indelible stamp of DOOM's personality make this album a minor classic. DangerMouse (coming off his work with Gorillaz’ Demon Days) proved here to be a voice for a movement of new school producers who cannot be pigeonholed or defined by genre. He expertly crafts compressed beats. The project came to be when Danger Mouse and MF DOOM met and found they liked working together during their previous collaborations: "Social Distortion", Danger Mouse's remix of Zero 7's "Somersault", and the track "November Has Come" from Gorillaz' second studio album. Their lone album, The Mouse And The Mask, was re-issued  in May of 2017 on Doom’s own Metalface Records. In addition to the 14-track LP – which featured guests Ghostface Killah, Talib Kweli and Cee Lo Green as well as appearances from Adult Swim cartoon characters (There's even a full-blown tribute to the treacherous three in the form of "A.T.H.F.", which features a special guest appearance by the Teens' crazy, sweat-panted neighbor Carl) – and two unreleased tracks, issue contains the duo’s other release, the Occult Hymn EP, a 2006 7-track companion release, as well as two never-before-released tracks including ‘Mad Nice’.  It may not be music for everyone: the die-hard hip-hop-heads will be put off by the comedic aspect of the album, the Adult Swim crowd may not like the rapping, but for a select few, those who loved staying to watch those original Adult Swim shows and had been following DangerMouse, when this project dropped, it felt like a personal gift. I often go back to it for the production, rhymes, and maybe a bit of nostalgia. This isn’t Facetime or Zoom…
It’s…

Danger Doom

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