I'm trying to sprinkle sugar on my corn flakes-- not cocaine.
“Why did you buy this album? I don’t know why you did, you’re stupid.”
Brak
“Where’s the keyboards, and the tambourines, and the guitar and you know I mean the stuff ...like white people like. Something badass, like... eh uhh. I don’t know. Like a Reo Speedwagon or something.”
Carl / Aqua Teen Hunger Force
I know that some of you are thinking, Adult Swim is the “stuff that white people like” and that is why some people bought this album.
Obviously people of all color and creed like these late night cartoons (though adult should not be mistaken for mature) and like hip-hop but Danger Doom is a clever product designed to lure in the music fan (of any color, duh.) who may not normally like or buy a rap release.
If you listen carefully I am certain someone somewhere in the world is saying to a friend right now “I normally don’t like rap but this Danger Doom record is really good.”
Just how good is the debatable part, especially when the glowing reviews are often coming from people who don’t own or know much about rap yet they know the all words to the Sealab’s opening theme.
Danger Mouse and MF Doom both have a sizable following but this is overshadowed by the chocolate in my peanut butter collision of never together before talent. This is exactly what makes this cd tempting to a wider audience and in turn cultivates a genius cross-cult marketing commercial hit.
The underground music community is once again digging a tunnel a little closer to the surface of the mainstream and maybe that’s why even though the humor found on The Mouse and the Mask is often R-rated in theme, the powers that be opted to bleep out the FCC regulated curse words. Does anyone else find this curious? It appears every copy of this cd is "clean" but if I am wrong please leave a comment saying so.
As a huge Daily Show fan I would be drooling over a collaboration of the Shins, Animal Collective and John Stewart (if such a thing existed) but I would also have unbelievably high expectations from the final product. I expect great things when great talents combine forces and in the end Danger Doom has a lesser impact than that of twisted Sesame Street or Muppet Show record.
Just substitute vowels with the subject of urine, Miss Piggy for Master Shake, and the Cookie Monster for MF Doom.
Pop culture addicts will get a quick fix but in 10 years will The Mouse and the Mask be as clever and will the beats and rhymes sound as palatable as De La Soul's Three Ft. High and Rising more than a decade later? Most of us can hum "Rainbow Connection" and probably know at least a few of the words but I’m not so sure Danger Doom has produced something quite as timeless and classic for the sub-culture set.
Lets be honest, how great is DD if you had never heard of Adult Swim before and or knew how many better rap records exist in the world?
PFM says: Danger Doom won't change your life. It's not as revealing as Doom's other work, and Danger Mouse's big, Technicolor productions here are a little too trivial to be immortal. But for what it attempts-- which is basically a comedy record with no-joke skills-- it exceeds expectations.
Doom has done better. DM has done better. Adult Swim’s comedy minus the moving image survives well enough but this complete package called Dangerdoom does not have the shelf life of a Twinkie however Danger Doom is as yummy... even if we all know it lacks any real substance.
The 7.8 rating works for me but it should drop one tenth of a point with each passing new year.
