Dangerdoom – The Mouse and the Mask / 2005 Epitaph / 14 Tracks / http://www.dangerdoom.com / http://www.epitaph.com / Reviewed 07 November 2005

At some point, anyone who picks up this album one must realize that this is probably the most gimmicky albums since the passing of Wesley Willis. I mean, anything Adult Swim sells itself, so the question is not why Dangerdoom chose this path but whether the album is any good. Some of the quotes and lifted lyrics from the Adult Swim show (and especially the vocals created for the CD) are embarrassingly bad, but on tracks like “Basket Case”, the flow is not hindered too terribly much by the inclusion of these odd-ball quotations. When the Adult Swim quotations die down (especially during tracks like “Bizzy Box”) and guest stars start appearing (Cee-Lo), the tracks really begin to soar into the stratosphere.

With a driving beat and the smooth, silken vocals of Cee-Lo creating a current brand of funk-laden rap refuge on the track, “Bizzy Box” seems to be a track that is destined for heavy rotation on TRL. The restrained flow of a track like “Crosshairs”, coupled with the heavy use of strings during the track allow the vocals to really float, levitate like a magician’s aide. Nerd-rap really rears its head during “El Chupa Nibre”; this becomes prevalent when the backing beat shows a few bare spots and the flow tries to do almost too much. The lucky thing is that all parties are such veterans of the scene that there is little fall out from this problem; the flow goes off without a hitch and the disc spins on. Continuing the guest star tracks with “Old School”, Talib Kweli adds a sort of intensity that is unparalleled during the entirety of “The Mouse and the Mask”; the larger role of the vocals in creating harmony works perfectly with the beat copped from old Saturday morning cartoons.

“The Mouse and the Mask” has its up and down, but the one thing that is beyond reproach are the tremendously compelling backing beats. Even when the flows do not measure up to the near-perfection of the backing beats, the beats weave together an interesting enough story to pull up the flow and exhort it on to better returns. This is especially prevalent during the Middle Eastern-influence sound of “Sofa King”, which embellishes up what is a fairly low-key flow. What seemed to be a gimmicky grab for money at the beginning is actually a pretty solid bit of rap, bridging the space between the nerd-rap of Eyedea and MC Paul Barman and more full-sounding, fancy rap (a la Nas and more “popular” rap).

Top Tracks: Space Ho’s , Bizzy Box

Rating: 5.8/10

[JMcQ]