Number one in the hood, g

Play it: Danger Doom The Mouse and The Mask
Download: "Sofa King"

Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is a block of time in the evenings that groups cartoons targeted to adults together. Shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law, and (the flagship) Space Ghost Coast to Coast are incredibliy quirky, funny and inspire a cult following amongst viewers (including myself.) Aqua Teen Hunger Force has, for it's part, taken sideways-long glances at hip-hop. Their opening sequence features graffiti and rap (by Schooly D.!,) and has featured a cartoon rapper named MC Pee Pee (voiced by MC Chris - download "For the Shorties.")

Rapper MFDoom (Daniel Dumile) is a fan of cartoons (he takes his monikers from the Fantastic Four villain, fer crissakes.) DJ Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) is fan as well (his moniker a clue as well, no?) and even became a cartoon for his turn in Gorillaz. Together, they form Danger Doom, and their debut album (The Mouse and the Mask) is an homage to the previously mentioned Adult Swim heavies, complete with plenty of hilarious sound clips.

Since all the artistic components (Adult Swim, MFDoom, Danger Mouse) are cult figures, this release might miss a lot of folks, but make no mistake, it is a great album. Even if your a casual fan of any two of the three, you're going to pee your pants in glee w/ this release. While the cartoon contributions don't rap (persay) the samples are fun and used ingeniously. Aqua Teen Hunger Force make for my favorite samples, and give MFDoom some funny lines to rap:

Look out, don’t block the screen son, lunge across,
I’m trying to watch Adult Swim-Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Rock this cult hymn, sock ya’ mean younger boss
Psht-Adult Swim -Aqua Teen Hunger Force
He often wondered, should he get the logo tatted’ to his woody?
He could be "#1 in tha’ hood g’"
Easily
- "ATHF (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)" Danger Doom

Throw in starstudded guest raps from from Ghostface, Talib Kweli and Cee-Lo, and this is easily, the best Hip-Hop album of the year (so far.)

tags: playlist, music, hip-hop, rap, danger doom, danger mouse, mfdoom, aqua teen hungerforce, adult swim, harvey birdman, space ghost