Left of the Dial |
Danger Doom: The Mouse and the Maskby Matthew Holota |
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Yeah, this is the Adult Swim cartoon album, featuring guest voices Master Shake, Meatwad and Harvey Birdman, among others. What makes it worth your time is that it also features one of the greatest rappers collaborating with one of the hottest producers, and guest MCs like Ghostface, Cee-Lo and Talib Kweli. MF Doom, after a long absence, now can’t seem to go six months without releasing a new album under a new name, and yet each release is still totally amazing. Dangermouse originally made his name with The Grey Album, the mixing of Jay-Z’s Black Album and the Beatles’ White Album. Both produce stellar work on The Mouse and the Mask. The record is leisurely paced and generally upbeat. I mean, it’s got Talib Kweli rapping about eating cereal and watching Saturday morning cartoons (“Old School”). DangerDoom was not going for social upheaval with this record, is what I’m saying. “But,” you retort, “are the Cartoon Network characters irritating and out-of-place?” Not at all. If there is one person in the world with experience in mixing cartoon voices and hip-hop, it would be MF Doom. Basing his resurgent career on Dr. Doom and cartoon villainy in general, Doom weaves Carl, Brak and the team of “Sealab 2021” in and out of the fabric of the record just fine. If this is your introduction to MF Doom because of the cartoons, then welcome, and go out and pick up Madvillainy and last year’s MM…Food.
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