Danger Mouse & Jemini Plan ‘Born Again’ Album Release With New Single Recorded 20 Years Ago
Producer Danger Mouse and Brooklyn emcee Jemini have dropped the new single “Brooklyn Basquiat,” recorded in 2003, which will appear on their upcoming album of pre-recorded material Born Again.
Hip-hop duo Danger Mouse and Jemini are finally releasing their sophomore project Born Again, albeit 20 years later. In 2003, the two released their first LP, Ghetto Pop Life, featuring Tha Liks (“What U Sittin' On?"), J-Zone ("Take Care of Business"), Prince Po ("Copy Cats") and The Pharcyde ("Medieval"). Soon thereafter, the duo planned follow-up, Born Again, before it was indefinitely shelved.
Now, Mouse, born Brian Joseph Burton, and Jemini are releasing Born Again via Lex Records, helmed by lead single “Brooklyn Basquiat,” named after iconic visual artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Described as a “markedly more introspective and confessional tone,” Born Again releases August 25.
Burton and Jemini have not collaborated since 2004, although the latter has continued rapping under stage name Big City. Burton has since gone mainstream, teaming up with CeeLo Green as Gnarles Barkley, and producing for Gorillaz, Norah Jones, A$AP Rocky and more.
In 2022, the 46-year old connected with The Roots’ Black Thought on Cheat Codes, with guest appearances from Raekwon, Kid Sister, Joey Bada$, Russ, Michael Kiwanuka, Run the Jewels, Conway the Machine, and a posthumous verse from MF DOOM.
“He’s incredible, honestly,” Burton told The Ringer about working with Black Thought. “I’ve never seen anybody be able to do so much with words, the way he puts things together and the time that he does it in. It’s incredible. When we recorded, it was just the two of us. I didn’t use an engineer, which I usually do for everything else. It was just the two of us doing it together, and just writing it and recording it with a microphone. I thought originally we were going to be like, “Oh, we’ll demo these things,” but we wound up keeping everything.”
Check out the Born Again tracklist:
- “All I”
- “Locked Up”
- “Me”
- “Knuckle Sandwich II”
- “Born Again”
- “Brooklyn Basquiat”
- “Walk The Walk”
- “Where You From
- “Dear Poppa”
- “World Music”