CMJ interviews the mighty ensemble of DANGERDOOM!
DANGERDOOM: Men Or Mice?
By OWEN STROCK
Prolific rhymeslinger MF Doom and beat bandito Danger Mouse have tag-teamed with Adult Swim for one hell of a cartoon concept album. Grab your decoder ring and dig into this Saturday morning romp.
Airport security is a bitch these days. You know it's a new era when world-renowned microphone maniac MF Doom can't get on a plane because of his metal mask. Gwar never caught that kind of heat! The metal-faced motormouth was en route to a press junket, promoting Dangerdoom, his collaboration with superproducer Danger Mouse. The fruits of their labor, The Mouse And The Mask (Epitaph), is a dream team alley-oop of Doom's babblebox flow, Danger's subtly sweet beats and Adult Swim's unruly roster of late-night misfits popping shots, dropping freestyles and cluttering answering machines. Though Doom couldn't make it in person, he's a resourceful dude, showing up live-via-speakerphone to hold a pleasant fireside chat next to the modest Mouse. It was like something out of Inspector Gadget, with Doom playing the role of Claw and Danger Mouse stepping in as his trusty, uh, cat. Or whatever.
So when you guys were in the studio with Meatwad, getting blazed or whatever, did you ever get the munchies and just want to eat him?
Doom: [Laughs] When it comes to that dude, you probably wouldn't even want to put your hand on him, your face, nuttin'! Stay at least three, four feet away from him, you know what I mean? Word!
Are you guys getting featured on Adult Swim?
Doom: We're putting together a petition now! You can get on that, too, if you're with it, man.
Danger: If the fans demand it, we'll see what happens
Danger Mouse, who gets more chicks? The Gorillaz or the Aqua Teen dudes?
Doom: [Laughs] Under pressure, kid!
Danger: I don't know man.
C'mon, blow up some spots.
Danger: The Gorillaz are more like rock stars. They definitely get a little bit more of that. Murdoc and 2D, they definitely do. They're rock stars, what are you gonna do? Movie guys, TV guys do OK, but the rock stars always get it in the end.
Who wilds out more?
Danger: Probably the Aqua Teen dudes.
Doom: Dude, I gotta get out more!
Danger: You gotta come to Hollywood.
If you could wife one animated chick, who would you choose?
Doom: Ooh, I would say Leela. I always had a crush on Leela. The one-eyed freak girl from Futurama. She's got the boobs on her, you know what I'm saying?
Danger: I was going to say Jessica Rabbit, but that's the easy answer. I'm a meat-and-potatoes guy.
Both you dudes are big on partnering. Does working with other people help you come up with ideas?
Danger: For me, I wouldn't like the music if there wasn't someone else on it. I wouldn't have much fun listening to it on my own. Plus I've got a lot to learn before I do a record on my own right now, just musically.
Doom: Totally, it's definitely like that, holmes. You know I'm a producer myself, so most of the time I'm doing both. It gets kind of like lonely. So you know, me and Danger, we go out, kick it. It's like hooking up with a friend with a mutual way of thinking. It's like I'm trying to get the snare right, then he calls me like, "Yo, I'm uptown, let's meet up." "Blao! I'll be right there." We working, but we having fun.
Doom, people have been saying you're spreading yourself thin.
Doom: Ah, dun!
What do you have to say to all the haters?
Doom: You know what it is, I'm going to cream them. If someone's gonna come up with something better, then bring it! But you gotta get used to my voice, I'll tell you that right now! I'm spreading myself thin, huh? Pound for pound them others can't come with the lyrics like that. If anyone can, put 'em up then. Put 'em up! Nobody can't really do that, though! I'm like whoever get bored with it, fine, it's not for you. The record's not for everybody. But if you like rhymes, you like pretty good jokes, stuff like that, then it's us.
Danger: Well it's a simple thing. Nobody is doing anything that anybody is paying as much attention to as this. How quickly this record has leaked is crazy. People just want more. It's like you can't satisfy people.
Doom: We just trying to offer something a little different from the norm. If you get tired of it, go back to the norm.
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