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Danger Mouse Rap Albums Ranked Best to Worst (2026)

Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) is a producer whose discography crosses many genres, and this page ranks the five full-length hip-hop albums on which he is a billed artist: Ghetto Pop Life (2003) and Born Again (2023) with Jemini, The Grey Album (2004), The Mouse and the Mask with MF Doom as Danger Doom (2005) and Cheat Codes with Black Thought (2022). Not included are his non-rap groups and collaborations (Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells, Rome with Daniele Luppi, Dark Night of the Soul with Sparklehorse, Lux Prima with Karen O and his early trip hop releases as Pelican City), the Danger Doom EP Occult Hymn, and albums he only produced for other artists, such as Gorillaz's Demon Days.

Danger Mouse5 albums6 min readUpdated October 2026Hip-Hop

Quick Take

Consensus PeakCheat CodesAn 83 on Metacritic with Black ThoughtThe Most FunThe Mouse and the MaskMF Doom, Adult Swim and 14 tracksThe BreakthroughThe Grey AlbumOver 100,000 downloads on Grey Tuesday alone

Why it ranks here

Danger Mouse's first hip-hop album since The Mouse and the Mask pairs him with Black Thought of the Roots, and neither wastes a minute: 12 tracks in just over 38 minutes. AllMusic's Andy Kellman described the production as drawing on moody, sometimes eerie psych, prog and soul recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, and praised the precision of Black Thought's wordplay over it. The album scored 83 on Metacritic from 17 reviews, Mojo ranked it third on its list of the best albums of 2022 and The Line of Best Fit placed it seventh. It ranks first because it is the most complete album here, with elite rapping on every track.

Context

A collaborative album with Black Thought, released August 12, 2022 through BMG. The pair first worked together in 2005, and most of the album was made from 2018 onward. Guests include Raekwon, Joey Bada$$, Russ, Michael Kiwanuka, A$AP Rocky, Run the Jewels, Conway the Machine and, on "Belize", MF Doom. It reached No. 43 on the Billboard 200 and No. 28 on the UK Albums chart.

Highlights

  • No Gold Teeth
  • Belize
  • Aquamarine
  • Because
  • Strangers

Weak Spots

  • The mood rarely lightens
  • A few of the many guests feel brief next to the host

Production

Danger Mouse

Read our full Cheat Codes review →

Influence

It carries a posthumous MF Doom verse on "Belize", 17 years after the two made an album together, and Barack Obama listed the song among his favorite tracks of 2022.

Replay Value

High. It is short, dense and consistent from start to finish.

Why it ranks here

The only studio album by Danger Doom, Danger Mouse's duo with MF Doom, is built almost entirely from Doom's raps over beats that sample music from shows on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block, with characters from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law turning up between and during songs. It could have been a novelty, but the 14 tracks are tight, funny and consistently well produced. It scored 81 on Metacritic, Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-minus, and Spin ranked it No. 25 among the best albums of 2005. It sits just below Cheat Codes because the cartoon skits tie it closely to its moment.

Context

A collaboration with MF Doom, released as Danger Doom in October 2005 through Epitaph in the United States and Lex in the United Kingdom, with Ghostface Killah, Cee Lo Green and Talib Kweli as guests. It peaked at No. 41 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Top Independent Albums chart.

Highlights

  • El Chupa Nibre
  • The Mask
  • Benzi Box
  • Old School
  • Crosshairs

Weak Spots

  • The cartoon voice segments are less rewarding for anyone who does not know the shows
  • Lighter in subject matter than MF Doom's best solo albums

Production

Danger Mouse

Influence

It won Hip-Hop Album of the Year at the PLUG Independent Music Awards and had sold more than 170,000 copies by late 2008. Cee Lo Green, the guest on "Benzi Box", is Danger Mouse's partner in Gnarls Barkley, whose debut album followed in 2006.

Replay Value

High. It runs under 40 minutes and rarely drags.

Why it ranks here

The Grey Album sets a cappella vocals from Jay-Z's The Black Album against music built from samples of the Beatles' self-titled 1968 album, known as the White Album. It was an unofficial release, a bootleg remix album, and Danger Mouse never asked permission to use the Beatles material. He has described it as a deconstruction rather than a simple blend, and the best tracks bear that out. Entertainment Weekly named it the best album of 2004, NME gave it 10 out of 10, and it placed tenth in The Village Voice's Pazz and Jop critics poll, with a Metacritic score of 79. It ranks third because the raps are borrowed and a few of the pairings feel forced.

Context

A solo mashup album using Jay-Z's vocals, made as an experimental project intended for a limited run of 3,000 copies in February 2004. The Beatles' label EMI ordered distribution to stop, even though Jay-Z and Paul McCartney later spoke warmly about the project. On February 24, 2004, in a protest known as Grey Tuesday, 170 websites hosted the album and more than 100,000 copies were downloaded in one day.

Highlights

  • Encore
  • 99 Problems
  • What More Can I Say
  • December 4th
  • Public Service Announcement

Weak Spots

  • The vocals were written for other beats, and some pairings fit better than others
  • It is an unofficial bootleg rather than a commercial release

Production

Danger Mouse

Influence

It became a central case study in debates about sampling and copyright, and it caught the attention of Damon Albarn, who hired Danger Mouse to produce Gorillaz's Demon Days.

Replay Value

Good. The strongest tracks still sound inventive two decades on.

Why it ranks here

The first Danger Mouse album is a full collaboration with the rapper Jemini, and it already shows the bright, melodic production style that later reached a far bigger audience. AllMusic's Mark Pytlik gave it four stars out of five and called it a convincingly strong debut that is fun without being goofy, and Stylus Magazine graded it an A. Pitchfork placed it at No. 37 on its list of the top 50 albums of 2003, and The Guardian named it the 19th best album of that year. It ranks fourth because, at 16 tracks and 57 minutes, it is longer and less even than the albums above it.

Context

A collaborative album with Jemini, released in 2003 on Lex Records, with guest appearances from Tha Liks, J-Zone, Prince Po and the Pharcyde. A 2004 US reissue added three tracks, including a remix featuring Cee-Lo.

Highlights

  • Ghetto Pop Life
  • Omega Supreme
  • The Only One
  • Copy Cats
  • Medieval

Weak Spots

  • Runs close to an hour
  • Jemini is a likable rapper but not as distinctive as MF Doom or Black Thought

Production

Danger Mouse

Influence

Burton's collaborations with Jemini, including this album, were his first original releases under the Danger Mouse name, and it was well received by critics before The Grey Album made him famous a year later.

Replay Value

Good. The title track and the guest features hold up best.

Why it ranks here

The second and final Danger Mouse and Jemini album was recorded in 2003 and 2004, soon after Ghetto Pop Life, and then went unreleased for nearly two decades. It is a compact set of ten tracks in 36 minutes, with Jemini as lead vocalist on every song and no featured artists. Variety's Todd Gilchrist called it the best hip-hop record from 2003 that listeners never heard, and NPR's Sheldon Pearce considered it a progression from the debut in almost every way. It ranks last here because it is the slightest of the five and, by its nature, a time capsule rather than a new statement.

Context

A collaborative album with Jemini, released August 25, 2023 on Lex Records as the sequel to Ghetto Pop Life. Spin wrote that the delay was never quite explained. Jemini later said the album had been submitted to the label without his approval while he was incarcerated, and that disputes over ownership and payment held it back.

Highlights

  • Brooklyn Bazquiat
  • Born Again
  • Locked Up
  • Dear Poppa
  • World Music

Weak Spots

  • Sounds like the 2003 record it is
  • Smaller in scale than Ghetto Pop Life, with no guests to vary the voices

Production

Danger Mouse

Influence

Limited so far, though Consequence named "Brooklyn Bazquiat" its single of the week and the release closed a long-open chapter of Danger Mouse's early career.

Replay Value

Moderate. It is brief and easy to play through, but less memorable than the debut.

Scores come from each album’s scorecard review. A score marked ~ is an editorial estimate for an album we have not reviewed in full yet. Albums are ranked by score; ties keep our editorial order.

Essay

The Complete Picture

Cheat Codes is the best Danger Mouse rap album, the one where his production and his collaborator are most evenly matched, and The Mouse and the Mask is the most fun. The Grey Album matters more as an event than as a record to play every week, but it still holds up as a piece of sampling craft. Ghetto Pop Life is a strong and underheard debut, and Born Again is a welcome but minor coda to it.

Start with Cheat Codes, then go back to The Mouse and the Mask.

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Danger Mouse Albums in Order

  1. 2003Ghetto Pop LifeRanked #4
  2. 2004The Grey AlbumRanked #3
  3. 2005The Mouse and the MaskRanked #2
  4. 2022Cheat CodesRanked #1
  5. 2023Born AgainRanked #5

Danger Mouse Albums: Common Questions

What is the best Danger Mouse album?
We rank Cheat Codes (2022) as the best Danger Mouse album, with a score of 8.3/10: Black Thought at full power over Danger Mouse's darkest beats.
How many Danger Mouse albums are ranked here?
This ranking covers 5 Danger Mouse projects, released between 2003 and 2023.
What is the earliest Danger Mouse album in this ranking?
Ghetto Pop Life (2003) is the earliest release in this list. We rank it #4.
What is the most recent Danger Mouse album in this ranking?
Born Again (2023) is the most recent release in this list. We rank it #5.
Which Danger Mouse album is ranked lowest?
Born Again (2023) sits at #5 with an estimated score of 6.3/10.