Artist: Danny Brown
Album: Atrocity Exhibition
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Album Background
Danny Brown (Daniel Sewell), was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and had wanted to be a rapper since he was in elementary school. He grew up on the East Side and despite his dream to start rapping, the support from his family to do music, and being pretty sheltered from the gangster kind of life, he went into drug dealing with his friends. At the same time, he had joined a group called Rese'vor Dogs with Detroit rappers Chip$ and Dopehead (both now a part of his Bruiser Brigade). In 2003 they released their album Runispokets-N-Dumpemindariva which got a little bit of play around Detroit radio stations.
By 2006, he had been collaborating with a Roc-A-Fella A&R and Detroit producer, Nick Speed, but also caught a couple cases for drug dealing which he evaded for 5 years before getting sentenced to 8 months in jail. When he got out, he finally decided to cut ties with Roc-A-Fella, and started to take rapping seriously. He released 3 (1, 2, 3) parts of the Detroit State of Mind mixtape series and Hot Soup from 2007-2009 which brought some attention to Detroit. He released a final part of the Detroit State of Mind series and his debut album The Hybrid where he began to use the familiar cartoony voice that he's known for.
The Hybrid and a couple more mixtapes (Browntown, It's a Art, The Hybrid: Cutting Room Floor, and Hawaiian Snow) got him some buzz and he signed with Fool's Gold Records in 2011. He went on to release his second debut album at the end of 2011, his first critically acclaimed album, XXX. It got him a lot of attention across the internet, placed as a freshman for XXL, and a tour spot with Childish Gambino in 2012.
The rest is history, relatively known, he popped off after XXX, and began his second album that would go on to be another hit, released in 2013, Old, also dropping three EPs in between, Black and Brown!, Bruiser Brigade, and The OD EP (I believe this was three bonus tracks from XXX, "Baseline", "Witit", and "Shouldn't Of").
After several tours, guest features, and an announcement of signing to the English independent record label, Warp, known for its experimental electronic-dance music, Atrocity Exhibition was announced.
Danny Brown has said that the album's goal was to pick up where he left off after XXX, to give a look into his life between then and now. The expansion of his budget for this album and his past experiences allowed him to go further than ever before, incorporating the classic Detroit sounds and lyrics, as well as experimenting with some of the craziest beats from experimental producers like Paul White. The title itself is named after the first song on Closer by Joy Division, which this album has a couple clear influences it takes from that album and genre of post-punk. The song by Joy Division talks about a man that everyone watches in an asylum with the chilling lyrics:
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'
Which is relatable to the way we listen to Danny Brown's music, especially on this album and how he feels we view him as well as evident by this quote:
"I just relate to that song a lot," says Brown. "That song, [Ian Curtis is] pretty much talking about how he feels like he's part of a freak show almost. People just wanna come see him and they just wanna see him be a certain type of way. I totally relate to that. That's just how I felt with this album, 'cause a lot of people expect for me to be some crazy drugged-out I-don't-know.
They both reference the book, The Atrocity Exhibition, which is a story about a doctor who works at a mental hospital who breaks down into psychosis and tries to make sense of the events during the 1960's in that mind state. In a similar way, on this album we listen to Danny Brown tell stories in a feverish, personal, and psychotic way.
In another interview prior to release, he described the entire album arc of Atrocity Exhibition as "going through a bender before having a reflective stage.", which is exactly what this album ended up sounding like.
Some fantastic reads:
http://www.stereogum.com/featured/you-aint-heard-it-like-this-before/
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a49100/danny-brown-atrocity-exhibition-interview/
And the Anthony Fantano interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U-BG__zpjU
Review
The album kicks off with an off-kilter beat that sounds like a band warming up before a set, on "Downward Spiral", which has no clear rhythm to it and, much like almost every single beat on this project, really doesn't have any damn business being rapped on. Danny Brown proves again and again throughout the album that he can rap over just about anything, be it an off-beat sample-heavy song on "Lost", a nonsensical cacophony of horns and drums like on "Ain't It Funny", or a song with basically no snares or bass to flow on like on "When It Rain". Instead, he mastered the art of finding his own groove in the song without using a straight-forward beat which led to a ton of different flows, opened the door of possibilities for what he can pick and choose production-wise, and basically changed the beats that sounded like random noise into something rhythmic just using his voice. I'm not sure how to perfectly describe it, but I would say it's like instead of using the beat's rhythm to find his flow, he uses his voice to help the beat find a rhythm and it results in some mindblowing sounding tracks.
Don't let the fact that the production sounds insane and random, fool you, because it's actually quite good on its own. There's a good amount of layers to pick apart on every song, some of the samples are songs or parts of songs that you would never expect to hear looped and rapped over like the "Ain't It Funny" sample, "Wervin'". With some more effects added in there, an echo effect that enhances this almost insane asylum/circus feel on Danny's voice, and a high tempo drum in the background, it makes for one of the craziest beats I'd heard all year. That extra care towards the production makes it feel less random, thrown together, and not at all lazy for the shits and giggles.
The actual conceptual story as mentioned earlier is supposed to be similar to a bender with some reflection afterward. It's like looking into a single cycle of Danny's life that seems to occur over and over again with the initial depression, subsequent falling off the deep end, the comedown, and then the reflection. It's not clear whether this is what he's experienced as a whole since XXX, every couple of weeks, or every couple of months, but that seems intentional to me because, in the middle of partaking in a lifestyle like this, you don't know or care what the timeframe is, you just live through it. It reminds me of that bender that BoJack Horseman and Sarah Lynn go on in BoJack Horseman where they pop in and out of consciousness doing mundane or insane things for who knows how long.
Danny starts in his own room that he's apparently been in for 3 days straight doing nothing but fucking and doing drugs to numb himself. He acknowledges that he's been successful since XXX, but he's obviously still depressed:
Everybody say, you got a lot to be proud of
Been high this whole time, don't realize what I done
Cause when I'm all alone, feel like no one care
Isolate myself and don't go nowhere
and he realizes that he's starting this reoccurring "downward spiral". The next couple of songs continues this line of thinking before "the bender" part of the album like on "Tell Me What I Don't Know" where he talks about his life in Detroit, the violence and sadness he's experienced, and reminiscing about old times and "Rolling Stone" where the lyrics get incredibly personal and expose what seems like every single depressing thought that Danny has in his mind. The lyrics here are so close to the sober and dark themes of Ian Curtis, you could almost see him singing these over a more traditional post-punk beat. Both of these songs and "Downward Spiral" repeat that theme of self-isolation that Danny puts himself in. He locks himself in his room for days, the hook of "Rolling Stone" tells people to leave him alone but at the same time "in his mind, he feels so alone". It's dark shit.
The next section of the album tears away from the obvious dark themes starting with a fantastic posse cut with Danny, Kendrick, Ab-Soul, and Earl where they basically flex as hard as they can, like a good posse cut should do, over a great beat by Black Milk. I think that this is definitely a future classic posse cut just for the fact that the beat is perfect for rapping over and how great every single person is on this song. It also acts as a small interlude between the next part of the album.
"Lost" keeps going on about being lost in this life as a pre-thought to the bender, but the beat and delivery are obviously crazier and he flexes way more. It acts like the comeup of the bender where Danny can still think clearly, but he's in a different, lighter state of mind. The bender really kicks in on "Ain't It Funny". As soon as that beat drops, Danny just comes with punchline after punchline as fast as possible and the first time you listen to this song you really can't comprehend what's even going on. Stuff like:
I can sell honey to a bee
In the fall time make trees take back they leaves
Octopus in a straight jacket
are some clear, standout lines, but underneath that he's still talking about how fucked up his lifestyle is and the devil watching him. I'd compare it to "Hey Ya" ("y'all don't hear me you just wanna dance) where without really listening to the lyrics, you'd just think it was a song focused on the insane beats and clever lines, but when you listen to it closer, you realize that he's just pushed the darker stuff to the background. The next song, "Golddust" is almost as bizarre as the previous song and focuses a lot more on his drug use and how it's fucking up his life. Some of my favorite lyrics are on this song and the end of his second verse on it basically sums up the major "atrocity exhibition" theme of stepping into his horrific mind. It's an incredible song in every aspect and is a perfect mashup of classic Danny and the more evolved, insane stuff he did on this album. White Lines is even less in your face than the previous two songs, but he's still giving the delivery like you're supposed to be waiting on funny punchlines when you're really hearing about how much coke he's doing, facing death, and not caring about life. I like how the beat sort of matches that with the sort of catchy melody going on in front with the sinister bass, drums, and ad-libs going on in the back.
"Pneumonia" is almost another interlude, but it's still a great song. Both that and "Dance in the Water" sound like the most danceable, "banger" tracks on the album and Danny flexes and gets people dancing on both. There's a small undertone of the theme in "Dance in the Water" that mentions his drug use again, "dancing in the water and not get wet", doing them without any bad consequences.
The final section of this album ends the bender and starts that reflection period. "From The Ground" talks about his come up as he remembers his past and asks questions ("Now tell me, would you sacrifice your dreams? What it takes if you want anything") to himself, "When It Rain" is both an homage to Detroit with heavy influences in his lyrics and the house music sound while also talking about the problems that exist there and quotes Pac to ask more questions to himself or the listener ("Ain't no water, how a flower gon' grow? Ain't no change, then how we gon' change?"), and "Today" is Danny reflecting on his own lifestyle and how any day he could die or go to jail because of it.
All of those songs still sound like he's all drugged up and kind of crazy, so "Get Hi" is where he mellows out which gives a really nice break to the craziness of the album before its end. I actually really like the beat, B-Real does a good job fitting on the track with Danny, and Danny thinks about how life can kind of suck, drugs can make it better, but in the end, it's still only for a little bit and things go back to sucking. I know it's the least fan favorite, but I think it's only because it's way more low-key than the other songs on here and sounds out of place at first (and also I can totally see why people think the B-Real hook is annoying). I think after the trip of the entire album it's a good ending transition before the outro on "Hell For It".
After all of the darkness and crazy production, this one is pretty straightforward and a fitting ending to the project much like "30" was on XXX. Danny is looking to the future optimistically and even though he was worried about having money, not getting the respect he wanted, or was worried about dying before he could create a legacy, he's still going to try. He realized he could get the respect after XXX, got the money with Old, and I think the last couple lines of this song are very fitting and they show that this one was meant just for the respect:
I just wanna make music
Fuck being a celebrity
Cause these songs that I write
Leave behind my legacy
which I believe he deserves after cementing a legacy with this album.
Favorite Lyrics
Cause when I'm all alone, feel like no one care
Isolate myself and don't go nowhere
Smoking blunt after blunt, 'til my eyes start burning
Hennessy straight got my chest like a furnace
Drowning frustrations in a ocean of sin
Thinking irrational, I have no emotions
Jumping dope fiends that's owing us for credit
Taking turns catching sales things copacetic
Slice your tomato if you owe us for the lettuce
Running through the sack of D sorta like Jerome Bettis
Feeling like I got money
Know I'm just nigga rich
Even if she fuck me
I still know life a bitch
Bought a nightmare, sold a dream
Happiness went upstream
Blame myself, I had no control
Now I'm living with no soul
I'm on a road that never ends
Don't know opposite of sin
Some people say I think too much
I don't think they think enough
Loungin', ask your girl why her mouth on my nuts
You've been the same motherfucker since 2001
Well it's the left-handed shooter, Kyle Lowry the pump
I'm at your house like, "Why you got your couch on my Chucks?"
But my tolerance strong
Been cursed all alone
Whole family addicts
Floating through my bloodstream
Like I gotta have it
Tried to quit a few times
But it didn't work out
Can you understand
What my life is about
Cause I think you don't
So take a step inside
A mind so horrific
Images that I hide
Take look inside
Scare you for life
This is the way
Nigga step inside
Going through a bag like I'm snatching purses
Half a key of raw inside my fucking verses
Like a surgeon with that scalpel, bring that track to life
No umbrella, we stuck in the rain
Dark clouds hanging all over our head
No sunshine and them showers be lead
Lighting up squares and them dots be red
Now ya best friend gets shot in the head, damn
All the time I heard I wouldn't make it
I was writing shit that was so damn amazing
When half these little niggas was still watching
That's so raven
I was out there hustling
Scraping up and saving
Just to catch a 12 hour bus to NY
Sleeping on the floor in studios
Asking God why
But never got deterred
From the voice I heard inside
Tell myself everyday
The greatest that's alive
Discussion Questions
1) Where do you think Danny is going to go next in terms of both sound and lyrics? Where would you like him to go?
2) Would you like more artists to try experimenting in a similar lane that he did on this album? Perhaps somebody else trying to rap over beats influenced by other genres that would be difficult to rap on? Who and what sound?
3) If you didn't like this album but liked his others, what was missing from it or what did it have too much of? If you did like this album but don't like his others, what's different about this one that changed your mind?
4) Do you think that Danny's lyrical ability was the same on this album and if not, do you think it matters? Do artists have to get better at rapping on every subsequent project if they master another aspect or enhance the way they express their lyrics?
5) This album ran 47 minutes. Do you think it should have been longer or was it the perfect length? What is your opinion on lengths of albums, should they all be short, long, or what do they depend on?
Thanks for reading guys, tomorrow we have /u/zigzagzig writing about Elzhi - Lead Poison, another one of my personal favorites from last year.
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