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8.5/10
Lyrically brilliant rapper Black Thought & songwriter/producer Danger Mouse come together for a heavenly project with solid features to top it off.
This album was what I expected going into it: classy almost old-school-sounding rap flows, punchy beats, and aggressive vocal performances. It might not have surprised me, but it was a satisfying listen. The album has a solid start with the classy-sounding, almost soothing intro track "Sometimes". The following title track, "Cheat Codes" has a very punchy-sounding beat with a great flow. This track contains powerful songwriting as well, like "Blackness is not a monolith", and great rhymes like "Pay the price, gamble with ya life like Pete Rose / Bust a move, paper bubble like Veuve Clicquot's / Who got the streets of Philly flooded like Puerto Rico's?". The vocals on "The Darkest Part" are very raw-sounding, which I'm hoping is on purpose (it sounds like it is) due to it fitting the aesthetic of the grimy production on the track so well. Kid Sister also has a solid little vocal feature in the track. "No Gold Teeth" is one of the best tracks on the project. I love the plucky strings as well as the deep bassline; it just hits you straight in the soul. This track seamlessly seems to transition into "Because", a track that starts off with a wonderful melody that eases into Black Thought's calm yet aggressive rapping. Joey Badass was a wonderful feature choice on this track. His vocals fit the beat incredibly well and on top of that, his verse is written so well.
"Belize", the track featuring a posthumous verse from rap legend MF DOOM, is also a solid feature. Although the quality of DOOM's vocals isn't the strongest (they sound as if they were slowed down?), his verse addressing racism is extremely well written. "Aquamarine" follows with once again a strong melodic intro from Michael Kiwanuka. I feel like the best way to describe the production on this track is "beautifully snoozy"; the beat is calming but is meshed with Michael's gorgeous breathy vocals and Black Thought's lyrical delivery, keeping you awake and aware through every second of the track.
"Identical Deaths" for me is a meh track. It's nothing special; it has a solid beat but contains the same vocals/flow as the previous tracks. The same somewhat goes for the track "Strangers". A$AP Rocky's vocals are weirdly mixed into the track, sounding a bit too low quality. El-P's aggressive delivery is great to listen to, and the track contains clever songwriting and idioms like "waitin' for that other shoe to drop". The track "Close to Famous" has a solid all-around message and flow, but sounds unsatisfying and bland to the ears.
The final two tracks on the album are wonderful. "Saltwater" contains a great intro and Conway meshes really well with Black Thought on this track. The closing track "Violas and Lupitas" is short and sweet, with a hypnotic beat and gorgeous strings.
This album is an all-around eargasmic hip-hop masterclass with carefully chosen features, raw, emotional, aggressive vocal deliveries, and solid songwriting.
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