Danny Brown: The Spirit of Detroit
It’s no coincidence that Danny Brown’s latest album, Atrocity Exhibition, was released on the iconic Warp Records label. A launch pad for such pioneering electronic artists as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, and Oneohtrix Point Never, the legendary UK imprint is an ideal home for Brown’s fourth full-length, packed with jittery, fractured beats, the rapper’s own inimitable vocals, and sounds unlike anything else happening in the world of hip-hop today.
“I was always a fan of what [Warp] did. They have a big, strong history,” Brown explained in an interview with The Fader. “I feel like I can progress a little more in that world.”
Atrocity Exhibition opens with “Downward Spiral,” a sprawling free-jazz cry for help (“I’m sweating like I’m in a rave/Been in this room for three days/Think I’m hearing voices/Paranoid and think I’m seeing ghost-es”) built atop a sample of Krautrock pioneers Guru Guru’s 1972 track “Oxymoron.”
“I’m from Detroit. Our tempo is 140 BPM. As a kid, my dad was a house DJ, just hearing ghetto tech. That’s what we move to.”
These harsh juxtapositions set the stage for the sonic chaos that permeates the album, which combines post-punk iconography with modern culture, all filtered through the razor-sharp lens of hip-hop’s core tenets. Despite the radical settings, Danny Brown never lets you forget he’s an exceptional rapper.
With references including Joy Division, Iggy and the Stooges, Nine Inch Nails, and Stanley Kubrick, Danny Brown’s latest panoramic opus is an apt reflection of the city that raised him: Detroit. His lifelong affinity for dance music began when he was a kid, growing up with a father spinning beats at home.
“I’m from Detroit. Our tempo is 140 BPM,” Brown told Complex. “As a kid, my dad was a house DJ, just hearing ghetto tech. That’s what we move to.”
No stranger to Detroit’s legendary underground party scene, the rapper was a fixture in the city’s party circuit of the late ‘90s, a sensibility that came into play on his 2013 album, Old. The entire second half of that release was dedicated to high-energy party tracks (“Dip,” “Kush Coma”) that were built specifically for performing at EDM festivals.
Brown is a longtime fan of the UK grime scene, shouting out the likes of Wiley and Stormzy in the press, as well as citing the Streets’ A Grand Don’t Come for Free and Dizzee Rascal’s Boy in da Corner among his favorite albums of all-time.
“I think it comes from the same place (as hip-hop) ‘cause it comes from the streets,” he told Noisey. “That whole making-something-outta-nothing DIY attitude, I feel, comes from the same place. It’s like it was created out (of) a sense of hopelessness.”
He even went on to predict a fascination with the sound among huge rap stars, like Drake: “I think you gonna see grime influences a lot in new hip-hop soundscapes, even (if) they don’t know it.”
Atrocity Exhibition picks up where Brown’s breakout 2011 album, XXX, left off. Void of the hyped-up dance beats found on the back end of Old, this full-length explores moodier and more experimental landscapes for Brown’s confessional lyricism.
The album’s title is a Joy Division reference taken from the opening song of that band’s grim 1980 album, Closer, recorded before singer Ian Curtis committed suicide. It’s reflective of Brown’s equally deep connection with Detroit’s dark side, where guns, drugs, and wanton violence are still timeworn facts of life in certain parts of the city’s vast expanse, despite any current renaissance.
“One thing about me, bro, is I just like music that captures emotion. Ian Curtis, he probably wasn’t the best singer in the world, but he knew how to capture emotions,” Brown explained to The Beat. “I always say the best thing is when an artist is just working with what they got,” he added in reference to both Joy Division and the stark isolation that comes from growing up in a city like Detroit.
“When you have talent in excess and too many resources, it is harder to be creative. I don’t know what was going on at that time, because the Closer sessions were the last year of Ian’s life, but they were really aiming for that out-there sound. Those tribal, digital drums they were using? I can really relate to that.”
Said darkness is spread heavily across Brown’s most recent music video, “Ain’t It Funny,” a surreal and psychosexual slice of noir starring legendary director Gus Van Sant (Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting), actress Joanna Kerns (best know for playing the mom on ‘80s/early-‘90s sitcom Growing Pains) and eighth-generation Los Angeles heiress/Instagram celebrity Lauren Alice Avery. Actor Jonah Hill served as director for the clip.
Live, Brown is a force to be reckoned with, rocking the stage alone (no hype-men here), save for his touring DJ, SKYWLKR. His idiosyncratic presence in the world of contemporary hip-hop was most apparent at an appearance during the 2017 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, inside the Empire Control Room and Garage. Following an upbeat and crowd-pleasing set by DJ Esco touching on a slew of current club hits from the likes of Future and D.R.A.M., Brown’s brutal and striking performance was more akin to a Black Sabbath show than anything in rap.
Blazing through tracks from Atrocity Exhibition, Old and XXX, Brown’s lyrical dexterity is even more impressive live. The packed club of his hardcore fans appreciated every minute of it, rapping most of the lyrics back at him throughout the set.
Ending the show after midnight, Brown informed the crowd that it was officially his 36th birthday, inciting the audience to sing a rousing chorus of “Happy Birthday” while he slapped hands and exchanged high-fives with the fans down front.
For an artist who so publicly and honestly shares his deep-rooted demons with the world, he still finds a way spread love to those along for the wild ride. Perpetually pushing the boundaries of hip-hop, Danny Brown is a national treasure that needs to be appreciated for keeping rap challenging, progressive, and completely unpredictable—oh, and a whole lot of fun.
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