Production ace Danger Mouse combines with rapper Black Thought to create a dynamic fusion of eloquent rhymes, sumptuous string samples and swaggering psych funk, writes Fiona ShepherdDanger Mouse & Black Thought: Cheat Codes (BMG) ****Panda Bear & Sonic Boom: Reset (Domino) ****Erasure: Day-Glo (Based On a True Story) (Mute) ***Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation: How Good It Is (Day Dreamer) ****From Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo Green to Broken Bells with Shins frontman James Mercer, production ace Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse knows how to work a duo collaboration.
His latest, with The Roots rapper Tariq Trotter aka Black Thought, has actually been in the works for some time, with the pair now revisiting a project from the mid-2000s which they had originally dubbed Dangerous Thoughts.
Fifteen years on, Trotter’s forthright conscious rap marries well with Burton’s crate-digging sampledelics to create a bubbling stew of soulful socio-political comment which places Cheat Codes in a dynamic, eloquent tradition running from Gil Scott Heron via Public Enemy to Kendrick Lamar.
There is a quiet rage and calm authority to Trotter’s rhymes which Burton swathes in sumptuous string samples, swaggering psych funk, even marimba muzak.
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