Dangerdoom Mouse and the Mask: How bizarre adult-themed cartoons helped create a modern hip-hop classic
Read how a weird mix of events set the stage for MF DOOM and Danger Mouse to create DANGERDOOM: Mouse and the Mask
DANGERDOOM: Mouse and the Mask explained
DANGERDOOM is a collaboration between rapper MF Doom and producer Danger Mouse. This album is one of a kind, and honestly, the artists who made it are too. So, before exploring the album in greater detail, let’s look at who these artists are individually.
Who is MF DOOM?
MF DOOM is a legend known for his masterfully crafted rhymes, flawless flow, and humor all over unique and dusty productions. I could try and explain what I mean, but honestly, the clip from Vox below puts it perfectly.
Besides Doom’s unique flow and abilities as a rapper, he is somewhat of a mystery. I mean, he wears a mask and has multiple alter egos.
His real name is Daniel Dumile (Pronounced: DOOM-ile) and his most-known alter ego is MF DOOM (Metal Face Doom). A play on his government name and hommage to old-school Marvel antagonist Dr. Doom.
In an interview with Red Bull Music Academy, Doom described that he sees himself as a writer first, and he believes every good story needs different perspectives to tell it.
“To me everything just flows better when I got multiple characters to portray. I think a lot of times –and in hip-hop especially– artist get kind of pigeonholed into being like "‘you're the guy'“. I just, you know, it's kind of limiting in a way. This way, I could come from one point of view, or another point of view. And my characters might even disagree on certain things. There's multiple characters to carry the storyline.” –MF DOOM Red Bull Music Academy Interview
In that same interview, he is asked to describe the characteristics of his persona MF Doom.
“Doom is like the old school Villain. You know, like he's a typical villain that you have in any story, where a lot of people misunderstand him. He's always looked at as the bad guy, but he really got a heart of gold, you know, he’s for the children. In the end, he’s like a Robin Hood kind of character. He’s loved by the people, but the powers that be may not really get along with how he get down.” –MF DOOM Red Bull Music Academy Interview
If there’s one thing that shows how seriously he took his “villainess” character it’s that he often wouldn’t even perform at live shows himself. Instead, he would have a decoy MC performing his lines while wearing his mask that would reveal himself at the end of the show.
Why does MF Doom wear a mask?
Is the mask just a gimmick to match the concept of his villainess persona? I always thought so, but like his rhymes are often layered, the reason why he wears a mask is too.
“In hip hop, from my point of view, things started going more to what things look like opposed to what things sound like. So what I did was I said, I'm gonna come with the angle of it don’t matter what you look like, you know, it don't matter what the artist looks like, it’s more about the sound.” –MF DOOM Red Bull Music Academy Interview
Who is Danger Mouse?
The other half of the DANGERDOOM project. Is the producer Danger Mouse.
Danger Mouse came to prominence in 2004 when he released the Grey album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z’s The Black Album with samples from The Beatles’ The White album.
Danger Mouse’s “The Grey Album” gained notoriety when the Beatles' record label EMI attempted to halt its distribution despite approval of the project from Jay-Z and the two surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
Danger Mouse complied with the order not to distribute any more copies of The Grey Album. Because of the small number pressed, he didn't expect any further legal action to take place.
However, a music activists group called Downhill Battle Organized the Grey Tuesday online protest to make a statement about unclear sampling rules. As a result, nearly 200 websites hosted free downloads of The Grey Album and turned their pages grey as a symbolic demonstration. So, February 24, 2004, became the day when over 100,000 people downloaded The Grey Album making it the number-one album in the US.
“I was in the middle of something that never happened before. What happens when the Internet makes you a one-hit wonder in some way? I wasn't in control of it and I didn't like it. That's just the honest truth. But at the same time. You know, I think there where a lot of very natural forces going on. There was nobody profiting from it, which is made it the most natural thing.” – DangerMouse in Alternative Freedom documentary
Danger Mouse and Gorillaz
After Gorillaz co-creator Damon Albarn had heard his 'Grey Album', Danger Mouse was invited to produce Gorillaz’s second album Demon Days.
Although that took some convincing as Gorillaz was signed to, yup, you guessed it the same label that tried to halt distribution of The Grey Album, EMI. At the time, EMI was responsible for publishing Gorillaz's records in certain countries from 2001 to 2011.
“No, I think there was a lot, there was a lot of scepticism at EMI, partly because he just, he was in the middle of a potentially quite sort of serious legal battle with The Grey Album. And also he was very, very untested.” – Damon Albarn, co-creator and primary musical contributor of Gorillaz, on working with Danger Mouse interview
According to that same interview, EMI preferred that Gorillaz would work with Eminem for their second project, but Damon said that meant moving to Detroit for six months –which he didn’t want to do– and he and Danger Mouse just hit it off.
So, by a weird mix of events, Danger Mouse ended up producing Demon Days. On that same project, MF Doom featured on the track November Has Come.
Personally, I always thought that this was the first time the two artist collaborated, but this isn’t the case.
They had collaborated on a Prince Po record called Social Distortion, and Danger Mouse had worked on a remix on a Zero 7 track ft. Viktor Vaughn (another alter ego of MF Doom) called Somersault.
How did DANGERDOOM come about?
The below excerpt from a 2005 (SCRATCH MAGAZINE) interview highlights how they started working together on this project.
The Mouse And The Mask was released on October 11th, 2005 by Epitaph Records, a label primarily known for its alternative rock and punk/metalcore. And, while that’s indeed strange, I just love how it adds to the list of bizarre facts surrounding this album.
The idea for the project came from Danger Mouse, who before its recording had worked pretty closely with Cartoon Network, for the network’s Toonami block.
The album was originally pitched as a Toonami-themed record, where Doom would be rapping over various block-specific beats and samples. However, Cartoon Network suggested going with an Adult Swim-themed record instead, as it might have a broader appeal.
Adult Swim was Cartoon Network’s adult-oriented programming block, known for its unorthodox and often bizarre presentation.
In addition, Did you know that MF Doom voiced some characters in some of their shows? Such as ‘Perfect Hair Forever’, were Doom voiced the role the Sherman the Giraffe.
So, DANGERDOOM - THE MOUSE & THE MASK, became an album entirely inspired by Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programming.
As a result, the beautifully weird album is filled with many Adult Swim references. Danger Mouse incorporated many vocals and samples from episodes of various shows. At other points, the voice actors of the shows also appear, in character, providing running commentary throughout the songs.
My personal favorite are the skits with Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
A desperate Master Shake
As the album progresses, Master Shake leaves a series of increasingly desperate and angry voicemail messages trying to convince Danger Doom that he should be featured on the album.
It starts at the end of the first track, El Chupa Nibre. Continues his rant at the end of Perfect Hair Get’s a little more desperate at the end of A.T.H.F. (Aqua Teen Hunger Force). And concludes violently (and with instant regret) at the end of the project, in its final song Bada Bing.
My favorite track: A.T.H.F
The show Aqua Teen Hunger Force is about three sentient fast food items who live together in an apartment: Meatwad (who’s childishly naïve), Master Shake (an unapologetic narcissist), and Frylock (an irritated "straight” man).
During the show, the trio deals with their enemies and allies, including next-door neighbor Carl Brutananadilewski, the Mooninites, the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, and Dr. Weird.
As this project is pretty ridiculous (and not in a bad way), my favorite verse has nothing to do with a deep message, clever lyricism, wordplay, or layered meanings.
“Aiyyo, I know this dude right
Carl, he wore tight blue sweats but wasn't glued too tight
All he had upstairs was a crude light
You think that's weird? He lived next door to a food fight
Howdy Danger, much obliged for the beat God” –MF DOOM
There’s just something about the way the beat kicks in and accompanies Doom’s flow so perfectly that always gets me. It was my favorite verse on my first listen and still is today. And who uses words like, “Howdy” and “Much obliged for the beat”?
Of course, this also perfectly captures the theme of the album and the amount of fun they must’ve had recording this.
This leads me to what I feel is the perfect conclusion to this article. In that same Red Bull Interview I linked to earlier, Doom is asked about how he feels listening back to his first-ever appearance on the 1988 track 3rd Bass - The Gass Face. Although the question was related to a completely different track and project, I think his answer fits well and tells a lot about how he approached music.
“You know, nowadays, I think. Things…kind of got more serious with hip hop. Like it needs more humor. To me that's how it was back then, comfortable. It’s not as tense. So, everybody's not hung up on who's the best. And you know, it's it's more of a fun thing.” –MF DOOM
DANGERDOOM - THE MOUSE & THE MASK is unique in many ways, weird too, but honestly so damn good. If you want my advice, listen to the full album, don’t take hip-hop so seriously all the time, and allow yourself to have some fun.
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