'Old' is the Most Complete Album of Danny Brown's Career

Read our interview with Danny Brown

Danny Brown is at an intersection.

On the one side he’s a molly-popping caricature with an army of newfound non-archetypal rap fans. After digesting the ream of viral videos and subsequent appraisal of 2011’s XXX, these fans have subscribed to the highly caricatured and highly pitched Danny Brown, obliging him at live shows by losing their shit and hollering ridiculous sentiments like “ate that bitch pussy ‘til she squirted like a dolphin”, before returning to their parent’s houses to update their Tumblrs.

On the other, he’s a 32 year-old veteran with profound musical knowledge and a voice as deep as his upbringing. As malleable as he is creative – working with artists as far removed as Purity Ring, Insane Clown Posse and Darq E Freaker - over his six-year career Danny has collected enough accolades to be deserving of a top shelf position on any serious rap fan’s favourite list.

Old, which is Danny’s third album, first “proper” release and thirteenth full length, poses the question: which trajectory to continue moving toward? Should he continue as an underground MC, painting portraits of the struggle and poverty of growing up in Detroit with the sounds of contemporary, inventive production? Or, move along the path of an internet born electronic artist who spits comedic punch lines over hype-instrumentals that are the aural definition of turnt up?

Somehow, Brown manages to straddle both paths. Split into two parts, Old marries the multi-faceted sides of Danny’s persona in a way that feels like a complete assimilation of the last six years.

The first half of Old presents us with a Danny who is miles away from the one that most of us met on XXX. Instead of the high-adrenaline Adderall Admiral character who promised to smoke “blunt after blunt after blunt” while hanging around girls whose pussy “stank like Cool Ranch Doritos”, we’re reminded of the Danny Brown that would roll around Detroit with braids and a bag full of drugs to sell.

We’re introduced with a song that includes the “doot-doot-doot” ad-lib from Kendrick Lamar’s “The Art Of Peer Pressure” amidst lyrics about having to wear coats in the house and keeping the oven on just to feel heat. Speaking to Clash prior to the record’s release, Danny said: “With Old you think I’m talking about my age, or where I’m at in my career. But it really means…. Like, when I’m experimenting, making songs with Darq E Freaker and stuff, and then when I go back to my ‘hood, I have people who be like, ‘Where that ‘Old’ Danny Brown shit at?'”. It’s this sentiment that knowingly perpetuates the first half of the record. The Freddie Gibbs featuring “The Return” – which borrows the hook from OutKast’s “The Return Of The G” – almost threatens to kill off the past two years, with lines like “Return of the gangster, fuck a hipster, and pull the trigger / You got me fucked up, I’m a hood ass nigga”. But for all of the murdering proclamations, Danny is self-aware - “ The return of the gangster cause nigga’s got deals / This rap shit don’t work it’s back to selling krills” - and isn’t using the record to reposition himself culturally.

Rather, this is an introspective and at times heartbreaking comparison between his life now, and his life on the streets of Detroit. “Lonely” commentates on Danny’s individuality and awkward positioning – “hipster by heart, but I can tell you how the streets feel” – while “Clean Up”, with lines like “That’s why I feel bad, popping Givenchy tags / Knowing that this tee could feed my nephew for a week”, gives an insight into both the guilt and pressure that he’s feeling at the wayward point between the past and present.

If Side A was made to appeal to Danny Brown’s ‘Old’ fans, then Side B is an insurance plan to retain the new ones. It’s the Danny that the majority of the internet has grown to love, with hyperactive instrumentals littered with high-pitched yelps about drugs, sex and partying. This approach, of separating the album into two parts, is an important one. Speaking to Pitchfork, Danny stated, “A majority of my income comes from festivals, so I have to look at that as a business…. I’m not going to make a radio song, but I’ll make a song that goes off at a festival.”

Tracks like “Dip”, the Rustie produced “Dope Song” and “Smokin’ and Drinkin’” fit that bill. But that isn’t to say that the second half of the album isn’t punctuated with the same kind of introspection that decorated the first half. “Kush Coma” parlays the message that getting high every day won’t alleviate any problems. The Scrufizzer featuring “Dubstep” delves back into Danny’s drug-dealing past which had him locked up for eight months.

The frays of both sections of the album are tied together with concluding track “Float On”. Enlisting Charli XCX, who has the most understated feature on the record, the track could easily have been a part of the first side of the record. In this way, Danny is showing that both sides of him – the joking, intense, and comical character and the drug-shotting Detroit native – are integral parts of his persona.

In an interview with The Guardian, Danny commented on the current state of hip-hop. “Kids are learning they have to have a hot hook; if you don’t, you ain’t shit. We’re creating songwriters rather than some ill freestyle punchline rapper. It’s progressive for the genre”. It’s this approach, of focusing on the songwriting, feel and essence of the record, that has ensured that Old is the most complete record that Danny Brown has released. It is meticulously produced, with British producers Rustie, Paul White and Darq E Freaker behind the boards on several tracks. The inclusion of two separate aesthetics, while ensuring that both of Danny’s fanbases are pleased, also gives greater depth to the album and teaches us more about one of the most original rap artists to be making music today.

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @RyanBassil

Read more on Noisey:

BACK & FORTH - A$AP ROCKY & DANNY BROWN.

NOISEY MEETS DANNY BROWN