Danny Brown‘s a truly unique character in every sense and a genuine artist to boot. The Detroit rapper is known for his quirky style, outlandish nature and genius music. With his career beginnings in the early 2010s,
Brown (real name Daniel Sewell) started out alongside G-Unit rapper Tony Yayo. Although Yayo had been around since the early noughties, they were both looking to start afresh around this time. With an opportunity to collaborate, together, they worked on what would become their 2010 collaborative album, Hawaiian Snow.
Hoping that he might get signed to G-Unit Records, Brown held out to see if the opportunity would arise. However, he did not fit G-Unit’s gangster roster with his quirkiness and, as a result, did not end up on the label.
Instead, he got his breakthrough thanks to the success of his Detroit State of Mind mixtape series. Brown found himself on the Rappers I Know label. On this label, he released his debut album – The Hybrid. While writing for this album, he developed his crazy style, getting noticed by the prominent underground record label Fool’s Gold Records. With distribution from Virgin on this label, Brown found success with people loving his kooky vibe.
The Detroit emcee has an eclectic taste, and this is evident in his music. In an interview with Mike Skinner for Noisey, Brown unveiled that after reading reviews in Blender magazine and seeing a music video on TV, he purchased Boy In Da Corner by Dizzee Rascal and Original Pirate Material by The Streets and grew to love the experimental nature of UK underground music and disclosed that this contributes to his own style significantly.
As a Detroit native, Brown was also raised on a lot of Proof and D12 material. However, he also embraced the soulful, experimental sounds of Detroit producer J Dilla. Overall Brown has a wide and extensive knowledge of music and draws on this when he records. In an interview with Complex, the lyricist decided to list his 25 favourite albums of all time officially. You can see Brown’s picks below.
Danny Brown’s 25 favourite albums of all time
- Lil B – 6 Kiss, (2009)
- Cam’Ron – S.D.E, (2000)
- Aesop Rock – Bazooka Tooth, (2003)
- Master P – Ice Cream Man, (1996)
- Spice 1 – Spice 1, (1992)
- Hot Boys – Guerrilla Warfare, (1999)
- Outkast – Aquemini, (1998)
- Rawkus – Soundbombing II, (1999)
- Eminem – Encore, (2004)
- Redman – Dare Iz a Darkside, (1994)
- E-40 – The Element of Surprise, (1998)
- Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele, (2000)
- Radiohead – Kid A, (2000)
- Madvillain – Madvillainy, (2004)
- Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein, (2001)
- J Dilla – Donuts, (2006)
- Korn – Issues, (1999)
- Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, (1995)
- The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come for Free, (2004)
- Dizzee Rascal – Boy in da Corner, (2003)
- Joy Division – Closer, (1980)
- Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever, (1997)
- System of a Down – Toxicity, (2001)
- Nas – Illmatic, (1994)
- Love – Forever Changes, (1967)