Cheat Codes is a collaborative studio album by American songwriter/producer Danger Mouse and American emcee Black Thought, released on August 12, 2022 by BMG. It followed three albums of solo work for Black Thought, but was Danger Mouse's first hip-hop album since The Mouse and the Mask in 2005.[1]

Cheat Codes
Studio album by Danger Mouse and Black Thought
Released	August 12, 2022 (2022-08-12)
Length	38:19
Label	BMG
Producer	Danger Mouse
Black Thought chronology
Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able (2020) Cheat Codes (2022)
Danger Mouse chronology
Lux Prima (2019) Cheat Codes (2022)

Dates for the start of the album's production differ, including 2005 when the pair worked on their first tracks together,[2] 2017 when they first had the idea for an album, and 2018 when the bulk of the work was started.[3] After delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and tracklist changes, it was first announced in a 2020 radio interview with Black Thought where he mentioned its draft title Dangerous Thoughts.[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Beats Per Minute	78%[7]
Clash	8/10[8]
The Guardian	[9]
HipHopDX	4.6/5[10]
NME	[11]
Pitchfork	7.2/10[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]

Upon release, Cheat Codes was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on 17 reviews.[5]

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Andy Kellman described it as a combination of "'60s and '70s psych, prog, and soul recordings that are moody, trippy, and sometimes eerie. The crisp if soot-coated drums, smeared strings, moaning organs, and gnarled guitars are all very compatible with Thought, who scythes through it all with unparalleled wordplay delivered with surgical precision."[6]

Track listing

All tracks are produced by Danger Mouse.

Samples

• "Sometimes" contains samples from Gwen McCrae.[14]
• "The Darkest Part" contains samples from Kiki Dee's "Rest My Head".[15]
• "No Gold Teeth" contains samples from Hugh Masekela's "Stop".[16]
• "Because" contains samples from "You Don't Have to Worry" by Doris & Kelly.[17]
• "Belize" contains samples from Federal Duck.[14]
• "Identical Deaths" contains samples from "Future Recollections" by Raw Material.[18]
• "Strangers" contains samples from Philwit & Pegasus.[15]
• "Saltwater" contains samples from "L'Amico Suicida" by Biglietto Per L'Inferno.[18]
• "Violas & Lupitas" contains samples from the film Harlem Nights.[19]

Charts

References