This album will have taken almost twenty years to see the light of day, the composer and director Danger Mouse having toyed with the project with his old collaborator. In the meantime, The Roots co-founder has built a robust solo career, his deep, authoritative voice lending weight to his engaging musings. Cheat Codes is as good as it looks on paper, but at the same time as predictable: “boom bap” rhythms based on samples of soul, funk and psychedelic pop-rock (all vintage 1970), cut and assembled like Danger Mouse knows how to do, with Black Thought the wise man who delivers his clever rhymes. The pair can count on the contribution of prestigious collaborators: the late MF DOOM is smoking on Belize in the middle of the album, song followed by the memorable soul-pop-rap Aquamarine, with the chorus sung by Michael Kiwanuka. Elsewhere, it’s Raekwon and Kid Sister (Tea Darkest Part) or even A$AP Rocky and Run the Jewels on the powerful strangerswhich make sparks.
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