If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed that Danny Brown’s life isn’t exactly a party. In fact, it might be the furthest thing from one, despite what some of his tracks may lead you to believe. On 2013’s Old, Brown rapped about a hedonistic lifestyle that few could keep pace with. Laid over club-ready production from the likes of Rustie, and often used as a soundtrack to frat parties, it was easy to overlook the troubling context surrounding the album. Come 2014, Brown acknowledged his frustrating status as hip hop’s lovable fuck-up and confronted fans that seemed more impressed with drug use than his talent: “Nobody cares if I live or die…That’s the bottom line…Y’all want me to overdose, just don’t be surprised when you get what you asked for.”
It was a concerning statement from Danny and a sentiment that’s echoed in the title of his new album, Atrocity Exhibition. Using the title of the Joy Division song of the same name, Brown gives his fans the perverse pleasure of getting to see Danny’s chaotic life on full display, an atrocity exhibition. The album starts with Danny alone in a hotel room, sweating and hearing voices. It’s a life or death moment of self-realization, “it’s a downward spiral. Gotta figure it out.” As you would expect from Danny Brown, this is true outsider rap, stretching the genre to it’s limits, bouncing around from klezmer, grime, and psych-rock on a dime. It isn’t until the fourth track that we’re given anything resembling a hip-hop beat, the lurching posse cut, “Really Doe”. Over nightmarish glockenspiels and dusty funk drumming, the track pairs some of the most forward thinking rappers in the game, Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt, for an absolute banger.
Thematically and musically, “Ain’t It Funny” is the album’s centerpiece. If anyone has ever doubted Brown’s skill as a rapper, just try keeping up with waterfall of lyrics pouring out of his mouth. Don’t hurt yourself. Over a bat-shit insane one-two beat, Brown frantically tries to make sense of his drug habit by realizing its ridiculousness. “Staring in the devil face but ya can’t stop laughing.” It’s an equally terrifying and mesmerizing track, that still has me rewinding months after its release. The album is packed with so much detail sonically and lyrically that it takes some seriously attentive ears to catch half of what’s on here.
The album ends on a tender note with “Hell For It”, a capstone piece for the album. It’s mood is strikingly somber, tapping into the same melancholic voice that he typically scatters across his albums. The track is essentially a personal story of perseverance, recapping his own struggles as a rapper trying to get noticed while also declaring his hunger for future success. If Danny can continue to crank out such singular and brilliant work at this stage in his career, he may have finally won the respect he’s been seeking for so long.
“Really Doe”:
