Danny Brown albums
2011
XXX – 83%
The vulgar, silly, and exuberant style of Danny Brown was a welcome change of pace for hip hop of the 2010’s. On one hand he took things very seriously addressing suicide and addiction on songs like “Die Like a Rockstar”, “Blunt after Blunt”, and “Party all the Time”, but also made fun of the seriousness of mainstream rap artists as well on “Monopoly”, “Pac Blood”, and “Dna”. Satire rains supreme all over the place on the somewhat overlong album- for example “I Will” is some kind of response to Liz Phair’s “Flower”. “Adderal Admiral” samples Hawkwind and This Heat…I’m not sure if it makes the song any better though. I have never heard that kind of obscurity on a rap album before. Towards the end of the album, Brown’s whinny rap voice goes down to a more conventional thug dialog either proving he can be normal like everyone around him or again adding another level of satire. In all, Brown is the heir to Ol’ Dirty Bastard we didn’t even know we needed!
Greatest Tracks: I Will, Lie4 , Adderall Admiral, 30
2013
OLD – 91%
Old is a great follow up to XXX because it is more consistent, more varied, and more confident. It is everything you want in a follow up to a minor masterwork- an almost perfect record. It stands as one of the better hip-hop albums of the 2010’s. The record is divided into two different sides (like XXX was) the first one devoted to more fast paced and straightforward Danny Brown: “Wonderbread” and “Red 2 Go” are absolutely hilarious in a style unique to Brown.
The second half and the key to his growth is in the way he mocks the current styles of the time. “Dubstep” and”Dip” take shots at club and trap rap, and manage to sound like no one else while doing so; “Smokin and Drinkin” is probably his best tune to date, making fun and celebrating the life style of people that party every single night. His constant chants of “Don’t let me into my zone! You haters leave me alone!” may end up being his defining statement. He also sounds timeless while doing so, and hires different producers to help- the latter album track “Kush Coma” sounds exactly as you think it would with hazy sound smoke clouds. Rappers like Danny Brown are super rare these days, and their originality is hard to find. Fortunately through the rise of Run the Jewels and Shabazz Palaces alongside him, Brown is not alone is his fight against mainstream, sterile hip-hop.
Greatest Tracks: Drinkin and Smoking, Dip, Dope Fiend Rental, 25 Bucks
2023
w/Jpegmafia
Scaring the Hoes - 86%
Scaring em! Scaring everybody and blasting them with noise. Seemingly taking some lessons from Death Grips, this new album from Jpeg and Danny B has them trading off lines back n forth and they make a formidable team. Title track “Scaring the Hoes” paints the thoughtless dregs of society as said ‘hoes’, people that don’t like dangerous challenging music or the ones who stay safe and don’t dare to be weird enough. Danny Brown is more of a sense of humor of course on "Fentyal Tester" which calls back his classic album XXX (2011) or the insightful "Burfict", which sounds like classic Outkast updated to the technology of the 2020s. The hateful satire of “Jackl Harlow Combo Meal” is just what society needs right now- if you get from I’m coming from, and I highly approve.
There is a clarity that pierces the chaos though, as Jpeg is such a professional and militant about what he says in "Kingdom Hearts" while songs like “Steppa Pig” and “God Loves You” really stick in your head. Everything is up for parody and everything in the history of music deserves to be lampooned; the approach of this kind of noisy, angry, hilarious hip hop has very few precedents beyond Danny and Jpeg themselves. Throw sh#$ against the wall, and see what sticks. Hopefully they will join forces again because the results are as good as anything either one has produced.