The album that changed Danny Brown’s understanding of rap: “[It] challenged me”
Danny Brown’s music has always been unorthodox and different to the rest of his peers. The Detroit emcee has been unwavering in his style and, over the years, has gained a loyal following for staying true to his unique ways.
The outlandish rapper has an eclectic taste, and this is evident in his music. He has previously unveiled that during his adolescence, he went out of his way to listen to different styles of music and, in the mid-2000s, began listening to projects like Boy In Da Corner by Dizzee Rascal and Original Pirate Material by The Streets, the former being a wildly abrasive and experimental body of work.
Furthermore, 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. As such, the lyricist has a wide and extensive knowledge of music and draws on this when he records.
In addition to listening to local and international material, the rhymer listened to other artists from across the US. Following the release of his third studio album, Old, Brown sat down for an interview with Complex magazine, during which he revealed that one album in particular changed his perspective about what was possible within the realm of hip-hop.
During his discussion with the publication, Brown revealed that Outkast’s 1998 project Aquemini changed him, even though, initially, he didn’t like the album. Recalling his reaction to the body of work, Brown told Complex, “Before I heard an album like that, I didn’t think rap music could go that far. That’s probably all I could say about it. It’s a lot of songs that, stuck out. It was an album that I played all the time to figure out. That was the album that challenged me as a kid.”
The Detroit artist told Complex that he kept on comparing it to Jay-Z’s 1998 album and couldn’t reconcile how the two were both considered hip-hop. Furthermore, he didn’t understand why it had been so well received by Source magazine. Recounting its release, Brown detailed, “I remember when it came out, it came out the same day as ‘Hard Knock Life’ and I listened to ‘Hard Knock Life’ religiously when it first came out, and I could not get into the Outkast album, but it got 5 Mics so it would make me go back and try to figure out how is this album, so critically acclaimed? I couldn’t figure it out. It took me years.”
However, once the Atrocity Exhibition creator understood the Outkast body of work, he had an epiphany. Speaking about his realisation Brown continued, “Once I figured it out, it made me just know that there’s not really rules. It can be whatever you want it to be. I think with me taking that advice, I took that and did it the complete opposite way. You got a person making 2:30 second songs. Straight get to the point shit.”
He concluded, “So I think that’s my interpretation of where it’s no rules. That’s my no rules. I make short songs. I don’t make long songs. They wasn’t doing normal three 16 bars and the hooks. They have bridges and breaks, so just that alone it taught me. It made me think with no rules. So, like me, I don’t like 3rd verses. So I just do, hook-verse we outta here. Punk rock shit.”