Danny Brown

Danny Brown can rap his ass off; there is no question about that. He is one of a handful of up and coming rappers that are making exciting rap music that shows an adherence to skills without sucking the dick of the past. It is a very refreshing approach to rap music.

With the release of XXX we find Danny Brown at the height of his powers. His strained, semi high pitched voice works perfectly over the dank production featured throughout the album, which often sounds like the evolutionary version of the prime years of underground hip hop, taking the lessons of the era's successes and avoiding the heavy handed pitfalls that often accompanied the music.

One of the things that I find most appealing about Danny Brown is that he manages to flip numerous styles without sounding like he is struggling or trying to fit the mold. It is a very natural approach and the comfort level is apparent. He doesn't fight with the beat, instead he takes the space that the production offers and creates a unique rhythm and flow for each one. You can see this all over XXX, the flow never repeats, every track his vocals dance out unique steps keeping the proceedings engaging and entertaining.

Danny Brown is the new era, he encompasses everything that hip hop was, is and will (what) be. Whether it is the smooth and relentless style meshed with the Nautilus driven Pac Blood, the bass heavy bounce style delivered on Radio Song, the rumbling slow flow aggression of Blunt After Blunt or smoothed out story telling vibe of Nosebleeds; Brown excels and surpasses the competition.

A lot of people are going to be jumping on Danny Brown's nuts over the next year or so, it is the nature of the genre, the difference with Brown and most of the other flavors of the week is that he has the potential to be around in 5 or 10 years. The talent is that raw and that strong, and XXX is a perfect showcase for Danny Brown.