7. DANGERDOOM - The Mouse And The Mask (2005)

2005's collaboration The Mouse and the Mask should really be attributed to MF DOOM, Danger Mouse, and stoner cartoon network Adult Swim. Spawning what's become an ongoing relationship between the network and DOOM, the album features vocals from the casts of Adult Swim's then-major shows, particularly Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, and Harvey Birdman.

In a sense DOOM could not have found a more perfect patron than Adult Swim -- whose programming comes from writers both mocking and reveling in the wonders of bad sci-fi -- but he came very close to falling flat with The Mouse And The Mask by partnering with a television network. The gimmicky nature of the cameos and curse-bleeping ends up being hilarious, and is saved by the fascinating assertion that, as Talib Kweli quips on "Old School Rules," "I might be bugging, but it seems to me / that cartoons be realer than reality TV."

It doesn't hurt that DOOM is a fantastic host, flying through each verse in rare form, chummily ushering the "real" characters into his cinematic universe, and getting mind-blowing results from forcing tons of lines to rhyme. "Heaven-scented" from the opening track is my favorite coinage.