If Cheat Codes – a joint album with Tariq Trotter AKA Black Thought on the mic and Brian Burton AKA Danger Mouse at the controls – feels long overdue, it’s because it is: the pair first conceived the record 15 years ago. Back then, Burton had made a name for himself as a maverick producer, moving from his bootlegged Beatles x Jay-Z mashup into his stint as half of pop-R&B project Gnarls Barkley. Trotter, meanwhile, was recording and touring as frontman of the Roots. An incendiary 10-minute freestyle in late 2017 reinstated his status as one of rap’s title contenders, heralding his 2020 solo album. It’s in this moment of resurgence that Burton returns to hip-hop, the pair pouring themselves into an ebullient record brimming with sheer love of the craft.
