an in-depth review of cheat codes

"everything's burning down, when i close my eyes, again"

Intro

In 2022, Danger Mouse and Black Thought released a new album called Cheat Codes. Apparently, it took 17 years. Some tracks were as early as 2005, but the bulk of it started in 2017. Today, I'll be sharing my honest opinion and review on this album!

The Base Album

Cheat Codes was something I stumbled upon a week ago (at the time of this writing) while listening to a Daily Mix on Spotify. The song I listened to was Belize, the 6th song of the album featuring MF DOOM. It was amazing. I never realized it was part of an album until I went further into exploration.

Cheat Codes has been one of the best albums I've listened to this year, going above Collapsed In Sunbeams by Arlo Parks. The vintage feel of the album feels extremely prominent and makes all the songs feel unique. I got into a ton of songs and had them on loop for hours just because of how captivating and interesting they sound. I personally enjoyed a lot of the samples used. Black Thought's verses are genius. I absolutely LOVED everything about the lyrics in this album. It made everything feel so alive. Aquamarine is definitely a great example of this!

While many people complain about the album's mixing, I couldn't really tell myself. It may be a unique way of mixing, how they wanted to do it. I am in no way defending it, I'm just saying they're trying something different than everyone else... most likely. The mixing, in my opinion (running through Audio Technica ATH-m20x headphones) is very well done. I personally enjoy the feel of it.

Overall, Cheat Codes has to be the best hiphop album I've listened to in a very long while. MF DOOM's feature made everything twice as good too. I'm just an MF DOOM enjoyer, so don't mind me :) I personally absolutely love the flow and instrumentals of this album. However, two songs I didn't really enjoy, but that's like, out of 12 songs on the album. The instrumentals weren't that great and didn't resonate with me that much. Other than that, this is a masterpiece to me.

My rating: 9.7/10

The Music Videos

Now THESE are interesting. Most of these are labeled "Official Audio" instead of "Official Video," meaning they're more-so visualizers. I'll only be reviewing the Official Videos, not the audio. Let's start with the most important video of this review, Belize.

Belize has a very empty video. There isn't much impact with it. It feels unnerving in a way. That's how it's MEANT to feel. Since this album was released in 2022, and DOOM's death was in 2020, he couldn't be there for the music video. When his part comes in, there's nothing. It's just Black Thought and Danger Mouse sitting together in an empty corner while DOOM does his part. You can really capture the feel of his absence. It's perfect. 10/10.

I love how all the music videos are in black in white. It's very unique and matches the feel of the album itself. Let's move on to another video, Aquamarine.

You can see the intro right there. It shows the old title that a lot of older music videos had. Same font, everything. I absolutely LOVE the picture slideshow at the beginning too, I love when videos do that. The motion blur in this video is almost UNREAL. The camera focuses on the center of their eyes, so as they move and turn their heads, it creates a really unique effect. It's extremely cool, and I feel like I should try and do this for my bands music videos. Aquamarine has to be my most favorite video, and song, of this album. Another 10/10.

Now, for Strangers.

This is fucking insane. They're using the slideshow thing again, and the camera is focused on the phone only, which makes that really cool blur effect again! I absolutely love how this video plays out, and the song itself is really powerful. I don't have much else to say about this video, but it's definitely something I'd recommend you'd watch!

Now for a really unique one, Because.

This video's in VR!! (or so I think...)
There's several screens showing the actual music video while someone is exploring the place slowly losing their mind. It's really interesting! I love the atmosphere and the videos in this one. It really adds a certain IMPACT to it. You even see a loading screen at the beginning, with one of those titlecards too :) It's really cool, it looks almost like some sort of gameplay video. However, even though it's a unique concept, it doesn't really fit the aesthetic of the album itself. I do like the elements they incorporated into this, but it's just not it...

Now, for the last one, No Gold Teeth.

This is pretty disappointing, but nonetheless unique. A square in the top of the video shows things through AI morphing, and the recorded video is behind it. Using AI in your videos is pretty shitty, and I don't know what their intentions were to use AI for this video. Either way, it was pretty new at the time, so it must've been for something. Not much to say about this video. I personally didn't find any enjoyment in this.

My Overall Rating for the Music Videos: 7.1/10

the final rating: 8.4/10

An overall great album. The music videos were the problem for this, but the songs themselves are amazing.