The album Danny Brown wishes he could delete: “I gotta get out of debt”
Danny Brown is one of hip-hop’s most prolific MCs. While he’s not on the commercial scale of rappers like Kendrick Lamar or J Cole, the Detroit artist constantly pushes the genre forward with each album. However, there’s only so much critical acclaim one can receive without receiving their flowers in the form of income.
Brown released his fourth album, Atrocity Exhibition, in 2016 after signing a deal with Warp Records. The project featured the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Earl Sweatshirt, and B-Real, but even with those features, he didn’t make much of a splash from a sales standpoint.
The album disappointingly debuted at number 77 on the Billboard 200 chart, greatly impacting him financially. In fact, he wishes he could delete the album altogether over the losses he made from clearing samples.
“I’m definitely still in the red with that album,” he said during an interview in 2022. “You motherfuckers wonder why you don’t get music from me all the time. I can’t put out shit, I gotta get out of debt. I would delete Atrocity Exhibition in a heartbeat. I spent $70,000 in samples and a motherfucker sold 7,000 first week. I think someone lost it there.”
Brown claimed he was given a budget of around $100,000 for the album. Instead of keeping some of the money for himself, he decided to put it all into making a stellar project. By his figures, he went way over budget and spent $120,000. Unfortunately, the public response didn’t match the ambition that went into the body work.
“I ain’t ’bout to go cheap out and then pocket the rest,” he said. “Because you know that’s what a lot of motherfuckers do. Now, I didn’t know the samples were gonna get up to that high. Then I still went over the budget, I spent $50,000 on mixing and mastering.”
Atrocity Exhibition was influenced by Talking Heads, Raekwon, Björk, System of a Down, and Joy Division, whose 1980 song inspired the title. While Old was created with shows in mind, his 2016 effort fully embraces his sound.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Brown talked about artists being tight with budgets and making music that sounds like they cut corners. He believes that to make classic material, rappers must invest in their work. “A lot of people cheap, and that’s why their music sounds cheap,” he said. “I wanna make timeless stuff, so you’re gonna have to spend a couple dollars. You could have a Rolex or you can have a Swatch.”
He added, “At the end of the day, its just something that I really took my time with. I know this day and age, a lot of artists can’t really take time off to make music. They’ll get replaced. With me, [I’m] somebody that’s able to sit down and be able to take my time, ’cause ain’t nobody gonna be out here sounding like me, ain’t nobody gonna be out here doing what I do.”
Brown’s next album, 2019’s uknowhatimsayin¿, fell even further down the Billboard 200 rankings, peaking at 134. Then, in 2023, Quaranta didn’t chart at all. Hopefully, he didn’t splash quite as much money on those.