Danny Brown is 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.
Brown has released a series of incredible projects such as The Hybrid, XXX and Old. However, according to the emcee himself, his fourth album, Atrocity Exhibition, boasts a “signature” theme tune. The 2016 body of work was executively produced by British beatmaker Paul White and featured guest appearances from the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Earl Sweatshirt, B-Real, Kelela, and Petite Noir.
The album’s second track was one Brown is particularly proud of. In an interview with Beats 1 radio host Zane Lowe, Brown told him, “That one is like pretty much me going back to the old school Danny Brown signature, Talking that all that old school s–t, coming up in the hood… but still coming at it from a totally different angle than your average hood street rapper would.”
He continued, “It’s like karate with me. I’m like on black belt status when it comes to beats. A lot of rappers live behind the production. I can rap over anything and make it dope.” The track’s instrumental is very sparse and minimalist. You can listen to the track in the video below.
