Danny Brown "Uknowhatimsayin¿" (2019)

For his last major release Danny dazzled with a wild unhinged experimental Atrocity Exhibition. Its flamboyant nature and eccentric charm seems to have been turned on its head. This time Brown delivers a lean and fresh collection of songs that feel isolated from one another yet all land a strange dissonance. Selecting oddball instrumentals, his raw voice recording aesthetic adds this layer of separation between beat and rhyme that initially left me not knowing what to make of the project.

With plenty to say, the rhymes in the best moments are unbelievably sharp, witty and well articulated. Layered with elements of comedy, story telling, self deprecation and vulnerability he musters up some engaging flows that topically chop and turn at pace. Brown's cadence often feels a step off the beat, free and loose yet holding its own flow of continuous verbal packages to unwrap. It may also be the percussive grooves mustering this illusion as they are often untypical of a groove to rap along with.

The moods and temperaments of the samples and beats shift all over the place, never slipping into anything too banging or obvious, always focused on the power of subtler chemistry. Run The Jewels turn up to stamp their style on a JPEG beat and Q-Tip produces a couple of my favorite cuts that have the Jazz Hop lean. This wild variety in production aids producer White in delivering striking esoteric and Ethereal sounds that stood out among a lot of great instrumentals. With every listen this record reveals more, its got depth and substance rammed into its thirty three minutes.

Rating: 7/10

Favorite Tracks: Change Up, Belly Of The Beast, Best Life, Uknowhatimsayin¿, Combat

Danny Brown "Twitch" (2018)

The origin story of this bootleg mixtape is rather interesting! Turns out the Detroit rapper has taken up gameplay streaming on the popular twitch.tv! That's where the name of the record comes from because Danny decided to stream nine songs he has been working on during a recent livestream. These nine songs could be for a new record, perhaps unfinished. There may be more information out there but all I can do is speculate, however all is looking good from here.

Although there is room for variety these songs mostly carry a hard, urban, gritty vibe. Reinforced by a low-fidelity feel they take on a rugged street persona. That however may have more to do with the streaming quality than the recordings themselves. Loose percussive loops and sparse sequences collide with a keen ear for sampling that builds atmospheres through the aesthetics of its sources. The melodies frequently feel second fiddle to the tone conjured and so these beats become rather indulgent.

The lyrical presence has quite the boisterous, aggressive stance. Danny's navel voice and flow raises the energy but around him an arsenal of features from rappers work dark and mean angles. On Cut It Up one of his friends puts in a crazy maniacal stuttering flow to much effect. The opening Funeral Lines features has some similar enunciation with the cries of "brusa brusa brusa". Among his comrades Danny stands out the best of lines and rhymes however they all put in a shift with an abundance of style and little to fault.

For nine "leaked" songs it holds up really well as a short record, clocking in just under thirty minutes. Its gritty, gloomy and maniacal in bursts of harsh attacking rhymes. Danny and his friends go crazy on the mic, the beats step into some dark territory, the closing track especially so as a dirty grisly baseline buzzes while errie haunting vocals call like a distant ghost. There's a lot to get excited about, the production is distinct and the lyrics ripe.

Favorite Tracks: Space Trip, 8 Ball Flow

Rating: 7/10

Danny Brown "Atrocity Exhibition" (2016)

With an experimental, psychedelic approach to instrumentals, a subtle subduing of the drums immediacy, the tone is set for a more artistic endeavor which is frequently peaked by the borderline eccentric performance of Detroit rapper Danny Brown. With a smart head for the old ways of lyrical creativity and imaginative word play his pitched, nasal delivery creates quite the excitement and uniqueness maybe only comparable to B-Real of Cypress Hill who features on the slow track "Get Hi". "Atrocity Exhibition" is Danny's fourth full length, mustering a fair amount of acclaim for his courage to step into strange and adventurous territory. Unfamiliar with his back catalog, this certainly sounds like a breath of fresh air to my ears. The rules are spun on the side as beats and rhymes unite though a different filter of perspective.

After many concurrent listens Ive grown very fond of these instrumentals, they craft there vibe and atmosphere through assembled oddities that find cohesion in moments of overlapping as wild, eerie, eccentric, dark and rampant samples rub up against one another, often appreciating the friction that emerges from the chaos many colliding sounds bring. Percussion and rhythm avoids the tropes of trendy programming or bombastic loops, instead each track samples, or programs, a different flavor that appreciates the craft of the song. The pace keeping often feels minimal and sparse as many subtler sounds litter the backdrop with percussive oddities. In the moments where the drums do come forth and elevate the track they are not what you'd expect from a traditional perspective and that uniqueness goes the distance.

Chemistry is key, impressive as the instrumentals are, Danny is a mark ahead as his intelligent raps seemingly burst from his lungs in the midst of his contagious flow, its as if every word counts. The emotion is anxious, immediate and paranoid, he walks us through his thoughts and life experience with a wildcard persona. Nothing feels for granted as he works what we might called "hooks" into the middle of his lines with all sorts of variety in the flow and dexterous word play that has you hanging on each word. Its an engrossing style with little to criticize, initially he seemed a little raw but as my ears adjusted and I became accustom to his tone more and more of the magic was revealed.

Danny's got rhymes by the boat load but a few tickled me plenty. On the uncompromising oddball track "Lost", Danny proclaims "I'm like Kubrick with two bricks", to latter follow it with "I'm like Speilberg with ill words", loving the imagination here. He also drops mid verse into raps and lines from Slick Rick and Outkast, the second feeling especially relevant in today's world. I felt like there was more to it, but couldn't put my finger on the meaning of their inclusion to his own raps.

"Atrocity Exhibition" is a fantastic and ambitious record that really makes its mark and carves a niche for Danny to rule. Its not without its flaws though, as each track aims to experiment and be unique, a few fall behind in comparison to its better moments. At forty six minutes its track listing feels a touch stretched with a couple of weak tracks in the start and end but it doesn't ruin the experience, just a matter of preference with a few songs. Otherwise its been one of the most impressive and fresh record Ive heard in some time and I can't help but feel it will continue to offer more as time goes by.

Favorite Songs: Tell Me What I Don't Know, Really Doe, Lost, Ain't It Funny, Golddust, White Lines, From The Ground, Hell For It

Rating: 7/10