I think a thing to keep in mind of XXX, Old, and Atrocity Exhibition is they’re all deep and complex explorations of trauma and all highly introspective albums. XXX is a critical exploration of his upbringing in Detroit, reflecting on his personal struggles and lifestyle choices. Old is a reflective work where he contrasts his youthful ways with his life at that time, examining the impacts of fame, aging, and the pursuit of a meaningful existence beyond his past. Atrocity Exhibition features chaotic yet meticulously crafted soundscapes, mirroring the chaos of his experiences with mental health, drug addiction, and fame. It’s a deep dive into his psyche, providing a raw and unfiltered look at his struggles and inner turmoil. What many might see as chaos and ‘edgelord’ behavior are actually deeply dramatic and mentally taxing works of art to create. Creating albums like these, and then having to perform them, is draining on every level. I recommend anyone who hasn’t really given them a listen to do so. There’s much more beneath the surface than what initially meets the eye.
I am always surprised how people miss so much of the poignancy in XXX on the first half of the album. The first track is just a statement of purpose saying he's sacrificed just about everything to make the album and make it to the age of 30. The 2nd song is a dirge about celebrities/artists who OD and how he is on that trajectory. Pac Blood is an epic track about being the best rapper (actually epic, incredible lyricism). Radio Song is a parody of a sellout hit. Lie4 is a subversion of rapping about wealth. I Will is one of the first rap songs to brag about prioritizing female pleasure. Bruiser Brigade is probably the only song on this run you can say is just "sex, drugs, w/e" as a posse cut. It's followed up with Detroit187 though which is a very layered take on incarceration and media's role in the US. The next 4 songs more or less are more of what you were describing, but I'd argue they give a greater picture of Danny and what has put him in such a mindstate. Then the 2nd half with DNA almost anyone can see is a serious take on systemic issues. If you played just the 2nd half of XXX to someone who hadn't heard of Danny, they'd think he's one of the most dour rappers. The vulgar language is so colorful and poetic that it's a bit of a cloak and dagger act. It's like "here's a line about Squidward, here's a line about pussy smelling like tropical fruit Skittles and cool ranch Doritos, did I mention that there's a tv program capitalizing on the rampant violent crime that I have been subjected to my entire life? Or that prison Pavlov trained my mind to wake up at 6 am so I don't miss breakfast?" This isn't even really mentioning he divides the halves of the album with different vocal inflections which culminates in 30 where those vocal inflections are battling each other like Jekyll and Hyde as he imagines OD'ing. As great as his albums have been past XXX, it more or less felt like he was expounding on the same things he already covered on that album, likely because more or less his newfound success exacerbated his drug use and alienation. Quaranta isn't a surprise in its earnestness, it's a surprise in him finally updating his life leading to his newfound sobriety.
What's interesting to me is that Danny has always been writing about aging. XXX is about him turning 30, Atrocity Exhibition is about the aftermath and growing past his younger self, and even before either of these albums he had the track Grown Up! Its like his whole discography is an autobiography about his experience growing up in the setting that he did. Truly the greatest rapper ever.
his authenticity is why he's my favorite rapper. if he only talked about drugs and sex I'd think "this is cool, fun, and good music". Tracks like 30 are why I'm going to be a fan for years and years.
Prof! Lovee to see it. Please give a close look again to XXX and Atrocity Exhibition if this one stuck w u. I always felt the absurd party lyrics served as a vehicle to slip in the cautionary tales about addiction, self-harm, and hopelessness as an artist living thru systemic oppression, rather than an endorsement. Tracks like 30, Fields, DNA, speak very plainly to the overall intent of his work and I think something gets lost in translation. Cuz the way he used batshit excess to curveball some of the darkest and most detailed storytelling around suicidality and perseverance always set him head and shoulders above imo, relatable for his flaws rather than preaching a pristine message
Loved Danny Browns early work, the albums always were packed with party bangers but turned into introspective warnings of his own behavior towards the end. So happy to see him get sober and lean into humor and being a genuine role model.
I have an idea, if you wanted you could start putting your videos on spotify as podcasts. Your videos would work well in that format and you wouldn't have to change anything besides video. Btw love the zero editing, it makes your channel unique and you don't need it
AVAA!!! Very much agree that this is one of the best albums of the year! Bass Jam had me crying and feeling I wanted to give Danny a hug by the time it was done. I'm so happy he's doing much better now. It's really gratifying to see one of my favorite rappers continue to put out great work as he's getting older and make one of his most personal introspective albums.
avaa! something i didn't catch until i was watching this video is the song title "Jenn's Terrific Vacation" is also a play on words (JennTrificVacation -Gentrification). thought it was cool
Sometimes I randomly remember the line "I'm flirtin with a whore wearing Dior, this a Christian mingle" and burst out laughing. He's got so many little gems
Love the shout out to J.D. Signifier! We need more voices in rap, in culture, in general... who are older folks, black folks, poorer folks... sharing their experiences. I'm a suburban white boy, so without these brave and creative people I'd have NO idea what was really going on. Danny should be celebrated for telling the truths about addiction, poverty, and trauma in the past work he's done; and celebrated now for the introspection, sobriety, and awareness we see now on Quaranta. "This rap shit done saved my life, and fucked it up at the same time" is literally the start of the project. I think he is the most real he has ever been here. When he says "Alot changed since triple x came out", he isn't lying. I haven't seen many rappers refer to their own records that way.
Hearing you realize how insane MIKE actually is with the ryhmes is how I felt when I seen him live opening for Earl in 2019. He is in my top 3 all times with Weight of the World and Burning Desire is his true victory lap.
Just a quick note, i only watched your introduction to Danny Brown and how you felt about his previous work so far and want to comment on how i view Dannys work. For me Danny and his lyrics, the red threat that goes through his music thematically, always were about the bad habits we have. The things and behaviours we know are hurting us, killing us in some instances, that we just can't let go even though we know better. On 'DNA' for excample he talks about how he never learned to handle his problems other than with drugs. On Atrocity Exhibition he says he doesn't know if he will survive his lifestyle to the realization that it will to the point where he knows today is the day the drugs will take him. I don't drink or take drugs, but i know depression and there were points in those episodes where i realized, that i sort of depended on those depressive thoughts, because they seemed like the only personality i had left. Others might take drugs or start to cut themselves to feel something, while others become almost addicted to their depressive thoughts. That's what always drew me to Danny, through all the crazy shit he's fighting against himself. Atrocity Exhibition is the album i got hooked, his journey all the way down the spiral until he hit rock bottom where, after the craziest album i've heard, he felt sober to me, knowing exactly what to do and knowing what a hard climb back up it's going to be. Just me two cents on how i view Dannys work so far. I'll watch the rest of your review now and i'm sure i'll listen to Quaranta a whole lot in the next time
AAVA. I think when Danny Brown's progression is mentioned, Atrocity Exhibition has to be mentioned. The best description and processing of falling into a deep pit of addiction and depression that has ever been done in a hip hop album (imo).
i love that you always do a research before recording. At least 3 times throughout the video i though to myself "Yeaahh you definetely don't know about that" but every time you said the info that i haven't even heard about
kendricks latest album was about growing up too (didn't listen to dannys new one yet). at release it didn't fully resonate / and I guess I was expecting a flashy conceptual album. what I got instead was unexpected, took a while to grow on me. that album saved my life.
I love that he is finally being able to relax, I've read the critics' reviews and some of them are truly atrocious, especially pitchfork. They really didn't like that there was "no energy and no humor" even thought that's the whole point of the album?? They also hated the gentrification track which is very funny and ironic coming from them. The guy who wrote the article I'm 100% sure never heard anything from Danny besides Atrocity Exhibition, because even XXX, the apotheosis of "Drugs, Sex, Bars" had plenty of "no energy and no humor" tracks in it like Nosebleeds, Party All The Time, DNA. Anyways, great video. Love that Bass Jam gets the love it deserves, I cried to this song a lot.
The thing that I always loved about Danny's work is that in the midst of the cartoonist haze, he has always brought in the depth. In a way the depth explains the cartoonist haze (masking of true emotions). It's very similar to Kendrick's Mr. Morale
AVAA! A great video for an amazing album and defo one of the best of 2023. I think it’s his second best. That sample in the beginning of Jenn’s terrific was from a Cell therapy song before it was used by travis , though it might’ve been originally sampled from something else. Someone must’ve already commented about this but whatever. Great video!
Love the channel Prof! Great review: This album has been my go to the past few days when driving between austin and san antonio. Keep those reviews comin!
AVAA have you listened to blockheads new album The Aux?(blockhead produced it with woods executively producing it on his label) it has all sorts of rappers on it and a killer posse cut at the end from Danny brown, billy woods, bruiser wolf, and Despot, also has open mike eagle on the album, AKAI SOLO, even an armand hammer track! i recommend it so i can hear your thoughts on it
I think you should relisten to XXX! While it does have the qualities you mentioned, the tone shift from the song Nosebleeds onward I feel shows Danny taking a step back and mostly rapping about what it was like growing up in Detroit and how effected him and other around him. Then at the end with 30 he describes a vision of him dying due to the lifestyle he's currently leading, but since he's not dead yet he just pushes himself and his body to keep going just to succeed and never have to go back to his old life. -"Tears in my eyes, let me get this off my chest The thoughts of no success got a n**** chasing death Doin' all these drugs, hope an OD ain't next, triple X" - Danny Brown, 30
AVAA, might be my favorite project this year. Wanted to point out that Danny was actually referring to Blade Icewood on that “Blade and Dilla” line on Y.B.P
great vid, professor. thanks for the argentinian mentions haha, julian is definitely a great player. I recommend you an artist from argentina, he is called agusfornite2008, and he released a conceptual album a short while ago called BOBAJIZTAN, where he takes the role of a muslim sheikh.
Hi Professor Skye. I think your analysis of Brown is fantastic. This year I published a book on Detroit’s music history in connection with anti-capitalism and local community called Acid Detroit. The entire last chapter focuses in on Brown and how he is- in many ways- the epitome and culmination of Detroit’s musical legacy in the way that he incorporates influences from techno, soul, horrorcore and punk but also in the way that he makes sense of post-Fordism on the psyche of someone from the city. Would love to send you a copy! In any case, I think you nailed your analysis and Quaranta is no doubt my album of the year! Cheers!
AVAA, Jenns Vacation is actually an interpolation of the 1995 track Cell Therapy by the Goodie mob which was later sampled by Travis scott. The original Goodie mob song is about the hood becoming an increasingly fascist survelliance state and even uses the hook "whos that peeking in my windown? Pow, nobody now." which Danny references. Super cool track!
AVAA, as far as rap albums about sobriety, and sorta about aging too, the first that comes to my mind is a brazilian rap album called "Abaixo de Zero: Hello Hell" by Black Alien released in 2018, black alien has been around since '93 or '94, and kinda disappeared from music due to drug abuse, this album is sort of a comeback both to rapping and to his sobriety, there's some more backstory to it but you can just google it. really recomend the album by the way.
I don't agree with you're analysis of Danny's past work -- writing it off as just edgy fun. Yes, his subject matter is often limited to partying, drugs and sex with occasional forays into trauma and violence, but since at least XXX he's had a pessimism about this lifestyle that sets him apart and puts him in conversation with others writing about similar topics. His forward-thinking and experimental directorial vision goes a long way toward providing a fresh take on this subject matter. To me, this is best showcased on Atrocity Exhibition, which I find to be a harrowing and moving listen. It's music primed for close listening and analysis, not a collection of witty punchlines or hype-up tracks. I think it's telling you lump him and Death Grips together as "youth edginess" and incel music. I don't want to get too defensive here, because I'm aware that Death Grips is associated with a certain kind of pretentiousness that I'm fully leaning into here by writing this, but I think this is a terrible misreading of both artists. I think Death Grips was the most exciting and innovative group of the 2010s. They're iterating on a long tradition of experimental and noise music from Brian Eno to the Residents to Bjork. Their range is amazing, drawing on all kinds of dance music, rock music, rap music, electronic music -- just impossible to pigeonhole. They're subject matter is often dark and violent, but exploring those topics doesn't doom artists to surface-level or puerile art. These artists, both DG and DB, can be fun, but are not just fun. And both have a lot to say about masculinity and violence, which makes the incel label feel misguided at best and like a cheap shot at worst. Danny definitely has some misogynistic bars in his catalogue, and there's room for some introspection there, but his writing is a far cry from the totalizing and conspiratorial anti-social worldview that turns lonely young men into violent women haters. I hear what you're saying that emotion in rap music is often limited to anger or sorrow at trauma. And I agree it's very cool to hear Danny move into a more understated mode with more emotional range. But I see this album as a continuation of his career-long project -- a project that has always been vulnerable and confessional -- not a break from his past work.
10:21 I actually haven’t listened to the album yet prof, I promised myself I wouldn’t listen to it without buying it. And life has been dealing with me all sorts of ways……AVAA
Ik this is an old video so u might not see this, but i’d love to see a video on LL Cool J. I know you mostly focus on new music, but you bring him up a lot. I don’t know much about him and i’d love to hear your thoughts.
Love the review! I highly recommend Danny’s album Atrocity Exhibition. IMO it’s one of the best hip hop albums of this decade. Very deep, dark, and self aware
100 percent agree it's an incredible album. I never know if I should be laughing or crying and if I laugh I feel like it's at the expense of the artist.
Danny literally been about the paradox of growing up into an "Old" dude who's been Grown Up in an environment and mindset of youthful excess and struggle and indulgence and so on, since before XXX. So the tone and content of the album really is no surprise or anything unexpected. Of all the various rappers, he's the one of any of them I think fans expect to 'grow old'. But he's not an "old soul" who finally grows to match. If anything I'd say he's a young soul who has spent his entire career reconciling being in an older body. He has a great sense of humor and made some hype and wild tracks. But even at his wildest he's always been smart with what he's on about. I think some people expect Wild Danny, and Danny might have fallen into thinking people expect Wild Danny? But ultimately he is at his best when he's more chill, introspective, etc. His biggest track is still Grown Up, if that doesn't say it all.
Joker is the character in smash from persona; he’s a DLC character. The girl with the guns is from a different game. Im not sure who found the sample first for dark sword angel or red death, but im pretty sure most songs on quaranta were finished by 2021
I think we are seeing an interesting trend of musicians looking at their own toxic traits and how they can overcome them. Since Mr Morale last year, we've seen Kendrick, Mitski, SZA, and now Danny Brown use this framing.
I'm pretty sure Danny wrote this over the Covid lockdown and his label wouldn't release it. Then his project with JPEG made some noise and the label decided to put it out. This is not to go contrary to your comment but to give perspective to what I believe is the timeline.
Why doesn't "Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers" qualify as an album about maturity? Kendrick also touches on sensitive subjects in order to grow, he is also brutally honest about his vices and beyond all that kind of reaches a conclusion for a healthier life and mentality, all just like you mentioned Danny does. When describing Dannys album you mentioned that in spite of him being a master of his craft, i find interesting the fact that, on Kendricks album you can observe the same thing happening, giving more light to the topics he talks about. Better contender for a maturing album than "4:44" in my opinion hehe
Wonderful! I love your take on music, especially Hip-hop, and want to have greater engagement and analysis of the music I grew up with myself. Thank you for sharing your time on your channel! I always look forward to your videos for a new perspective on records? Any chance you’ll review classics?
I think a thing to keep in mind of XXX, Old, and Atrocity Exhibition is they’re all deep and complex explorations of trauma and all highly introspective albums.
XXX is a critical exploration of his upbringing in Detroit, reflecting on his personal struggles and lifestyle choices.
Old is a reflective work where he contrasts his youthful ways with his life at that time, examining the impacts of fame, aging, and the pursuit of a meaningful existence beyond his past.
Atrocity Exhibition features chaotic yet meticulously crafted soundscapes, mirroring the chaos of his experiences with mental health, drug addiction, and fame. It’s a deep dive into his psyche, providing a raw and unfiltered look at his struggles and inner turmoil.
What many might see as chaos and ‘edgelord’ behavior are actually deeply dramatic and mentally taxing works of art to create.
Creating albums like these, and then having to perform them, is draining on every level.
I recommend anyone who hasn’t really given them a listen to do so. There’s much more beneath the surface than what initially meets the eye.
This is the kind of counterpoint that my video needs. Going to pin it. Thank you!
Unknowwhatimsayin holds up against all those as well! It's a crime that nobody talks about that album
@@TeaAndBunsMCYeah I hate how people overlook that album when it has many gems.
Thats why theyre my favorites
I am always surprised how people miss so much of the poignancy in XXX on the first half of the album. The first track is just a statement of purpose saying he's sacrificed just about everything to make the album and make it to the age of 30. The 2nd song is a dirge about celebrities/artists who OD and how he is on that trajectory. Pac Blood is an epic track about being the best rapper (actually epic, incredible lyricism). Radio Song is a parody of a sellout hit. Lie4 is a subversion of rapping about wealth. I Will is one of the first rap songs to brag about prioritizing female pleasure. Bruiser Brigade is probably the only song on this run you can say is just "sex, drugs, w/e" as a posse cut. It's followed up with Detroit187 though which is a very layered take on incarceration and media's role in the US. The next 4 songs more or less are more of what you were describing, but I'd argue they give a greater picture of Danny and what has put him in such a mindstate. Then the 2nd half with DNA almost anyone can see is a serious take on systemic issues. If you played just the 2nd half of XXX to someone who hadn't heard of Danny, they'd think he's one of the most dour rappers.
The vulgar language is so colorful and poetic that it's a bit of a cloak and dagger act. It's like "here's a line about Squidward, here's a line about pussy smelling like tropical fruit Skittles and cool ranch Doritos, did I mention that there's a tv program capitalizing on the rampant violent crime that I have been subjected to my entire life? Or that prison Pavlov trained my mind to wake up at 6 am so I don't miss breakfast?" This isn't even really mentioning he divides the halves of the album with different vocal inflections which culminates in 30 where those vocal inflections are battling each other like Jekyll and Hyde as he imagines OD'ing.
As great as his albums have been past XXX, it more or less felt like he was expounding on the same things he already covered on that album, likely because more or less his newfound success exacerbated his drug use and alienation. Quaranta isn't a surprise in its earnestness, it's a surprise in him finally updating his life leading to his newfound sobriety.
Danny saw and posted your video on Twitter!
Thanks for telling me! I rarely check that site, but this was a super welcome surprise. It is a real treat when artists see and enjoy my work.
What's interesting to me is that Danny has always been writing about aging. XXX is about him turning 30, Atrocity Exhibition is about the aftermath and growing past his younger self, and even before either of these albums he had the track Grown Up! Its like his whole discography is an autobiography about his experience growing up in the setting that he did. Truly the greatest rapper ever.
his authenticity is why he's my favorite rapper. if he only talked about drugs and sex I'd think "this is cool, fun, and good music". Tracks like 30 are why I'm going to be a fan for years and years.
He hasn’t alwaaaays. The whole point of 30 is he’s been making music for so long and this is his last shot. And it worked.
Prof! Lovee to see it. Please give a close look again to XXX and Atrocity Exhibition if this one stuck w u. I always felt the absurd party lyrics served as a vehicle to slip in the cautionary tales about addiction, self-harm, and hopelessness as an artist living thru systemic oppression, rather than an endorsement. Tracks like 30, Fields, DNA, speak very plainly to the overall intent of his work and I think something gets lost in translation. Cuz the way he used batshit excess to curveball some of the darkest and most detailed storytelling around suicidality and perseverance always set him head and shoulders above imo, relatable for his flaws rather than preaching a pristine message
Loved Danny Browns early work, the albums always were packed with party bangers but turned into introspective warnings of his own behavior towards the end. So happy to see him get sober and lean into humor and being a genuine role model.
AVAA, This is one of the best albums of the year, Danny is the goat.
Yes it's 5% Tint but also Cell Therapy by Goodie Mob. Great vid Prof love to see the Danny Brown love. Shoutout from the Mitten AVAA
"Who's that peepin' in my window"
I have an idea, if you wanted you could start putting your videos on spotify as podcasts. Your videos would work well in that format and you wouldn't have to change anything besides video. Btw love the zero editing, it makes your channel unique and you don't need it
AVA, this album had me in tears.
professor, your videos always wanna make me cry for some reason. Thanks for them!
AVAA!!! Very much agree that this is one of the best albums of the year! Bass Jam had me crying and feeling I wanted to give Danny a hug by the time it was done. I'm so happy he's doing much better now.
It's really gratifying to see one of my favorite rappers continue to put out great work as he's getting older and make one of his most personal introspective albums.
avaa! something i didn't catch until i was watching this video is the song title "Jenn's Terrific Vacation" is also a play on words (JennTrificVacation -Gentrification). thought it was cool
Bro I didn’t even catch that 😂 thank you
AVAA! Sending love from Australia
I love bruiser wolf. If you haven’t, check out his album dope game stupid. It’s full of clever punchlines and great beats.
Sometimes I randomly remember the line "I'm flirtin with a whore wearing Dior, this a Christian mingle" and burst out laughing. He's got so many little gems
@@sizwesokopo281 "I treat my dogs better than white people do their's"
AVAA: I think that line about blade and dilla was a reference to blade icewood. He was kinda like founder of the modern detroit street rap sound
Love the shout out to J.D. Signifier! We need more voices in rap, in culture, in general... who are older folks, black folks, poorer folks... sharing their experiences.
I'm a suburban white boy, so without these brave and creative people I'd have NO idea what was really going on.
Danny should be celebrated for telling the truths about addiction, poverty, and trauma in the past work he's done; and celebrated now for the introspection, sobriety, and awareness we see now on Quaranta.
"This rap shit done saved my life, and fucked it up at the same time" is literally the start of the project. I think he is the most real he has ever been here.
When he says "Alot changed since triple x came out", he isn't lying. I haven't seen many rappers refer to their own records that way.
Hearing you realize how insane MIKE actually is with the ryhmes is how I felt when I seen him live opening for Earl in 2019. He is in my top 3 all times with Weight of the World and Burning Desire is his true victory lap.
AVAA, the Mike verse on celibate is so good and I keep going back to it.
AVAA. Listening to your perspective on underground esque albums is just so damn interesting. Thankyou Professor!
Just a quick note, i only watched your introduction to Danny Brown and how you felt about his previous work so far and want to comment on how i view Dannys work.
For me Danny and his lyrics, the red threat that goes through his music thematically, always were about the bad habits we have. The things and behaviours we know are hurting us, killing us in some instances, that we just can't let go even though we know better. On 'DNA' for excample he talks about how he never learned to handle his problems other than with drugs. On Atrocity Exhibition he says he doesn't know if he will survive his lifestyle to the realization that it will to the point where he knows today is the day the drugs will take him.
I don't drink or take drugs, but i know depression and there were points in those episodes where i realized, that i sort of depended on those depressive thoughts, because they seemed like the only personality i had left. Others might take drugs or start to cut themselves to feel something, while others become almost addicted to their depressive thoughts.
That's what always drew me to Danny, through all the crazy shit he's fighting against himself. Atrocity Exhibition is the album i got hooked, his journey all the way down the spiral until he hit rock bottom where, after the craziest album i've heard, he felt sober to me, knowing exactly what to do and knowing what a hard climb back up it's going to be.
Just me two cents on how i view Dannys work so far. I'll watch the rest of your review now and i'm sure i'll listen to Quaranta a whole lot in the next time
AAVA. I think when Danny Brown's progression is mentioned, Atrocity Exhibition has to be mentioned. The best description and processing of falling into a deep pit of addiction and depression that has ever been done in a hip hop album (imo).
I agree with this. Atrocity Exhibition is ANYTHING but funny (at least to me).
Awesome as video always
I'd love to get your take on Ren's new rap album Sick Boi. It's quite unique. Looking forward to absorbing Danny Brown's this evening
RADICAL!
the tiktok thing on jenn is 5% tint which samples cell therapy by goodie mob
further danny samples and references cell therapy a lot on that song as well
i love that you always do a research before recording. At least 3 times throughout the video i though to myself "Yeaahh you definetely don't know about that" but every time you said the info that i haven't even heard about
AVAA, surprised to hear you mention JREG in a Danny brown review lol he’s great tho
kendricks latest album was about growing up too (didn't listen to dannys new one yet). at release it didn't fully resonate / and I guess I was expecting a flashy conceptual album. what I got instead was unexpected, took a while to grow on me. that album saved my life.
this project felt like a slow and warm kick in the head to bring everyone back into reality
really enjoyed this video. will be watching more...keep it up bro
I love that he is finally being able to relax, I've read the critics' reviews and some of them are truly atrocious, especially pitchfork. They really didn't like that there was "no energy and no humor" even thought that's the whole point of the album?? They also hated the gentrification track which is very funny and ironic coming from them. The guy who wrote the article I'm 100% sure never heard anything from Danny besides Atrocity Exhibition, because even XXX, the apotheosis of "Drugs, Sex, Bars" had plenty of "no energy and no humor" tracks in it like Nosebleeds, Party All The Time, DNA. Anyways, great video. Love that Bass Jam gets the love it deserves, I cried to this song a lot.
The thing that I always loved about Danny's work is that in the midst of the cartoonist haze, he has always brought in the depth. In a way the depth explains the cartoonist haze (masking of true emotions).
It's very similar to Kendrick's Mr. Morale
AVAA Some more great work from Danny. Btw I care when you talk about E40
I would listen to this dude talk about E40 anyday.
@@scottwatrous e40 is one of the goats for sure, completely unique style and has stayed relevant since the late 80s
I remenber when he anounced this album a few years ago in a tony hawk's pro skater remastered stream avaa
18:23 "Who are you" is a classic start to an interview for the legend himself, Nardwuar, the Human Serviette.
AVAA! A great video for an amazing album and defo one of the best of 2023. I think it’s his second best.
That sample in the beginning of Jenn’s terrific was from a Cell therapy song before it was used by travis , though it might’ve been originally sampled from something else. Someone must’ve already commented about this but whatever.
Great video!
Love the channel Prof! Great review: This album has been my go to the past few days when driving between austin and san antonio. Keep those reviews comin!
AVAA have you listened to blockheads new album The Aux?(blockhead produced it with woods executively producing it on his label) it has all sorts of rappers on it and a killer posse cut at the end from Danny brown, billy woods, bruiser wolf, and Despot, also has open mike eagle on the album, AKAI SOLO, even an armand hammer track! i recommend it so i can hear your thoughts on it
I’m sure a lot of people are coming here from Danny’s tweet! (I’m one of them)
Super happy for you man!
AVAA this album is absolutely amazing. Danny is always very open with his music but this album took it to a new level. One of his best for sure.
Thanks for breaking down all these dope records. We need more bright people to do what you’re doing. Love the avant gardometer 😅
I think you should relisten to XXX! While it does have the qualities you mentioned, the tone shift from the song Nosebleeds onward I feel shows Danny taking a step back and mostly rapping about what it was like growing up in Detroit and how effected him and other around him. Then at the end with 30 he describes a vision of him dying due to the lifestyle he's currently leading, but since he's not dead yet he just pushes himself and his body to keep going just to succeed and never have to go back to his old life.
-"Tears in my eyes, let me get this off my chest
The thoughts of no success got a n**** chasing death
Doin' all these drugs, hope an OD ain't next, triple X" - Danny Brown, 30
AVAA The Album's so good it made Professor Skye swear
The piano sample on Jen's terrific vacation comes from Goodie Mob's "Cell therapy"
AVAA, might be my favorite project this year. Wanted to point out that Danny was actually referring to Blade Icewood on that “Blade and Dilla” line on Y.B.P
mr morale peeking at the corner
really nice observations
Hey Professor Skye! I really love this review!!!!!!! You should really review MIKE's Burning Desire!
He has done it, check his channel
great vid, professor. thanks for the argentinian mentions haha, julian is definitely a great player. I recommend you an artist from argentina, he is called agusfornite2008, and he released a conceptual album a short while ago called BOBAJIZTAN, where he takes the role of a muslim sheikh.
The sample from 5% tint is originally used on goodie mobs track cell therapy !
Hi Professor Skye. I think your analysis of Brown is fantastic. This year I published a book on Detroit’s music history in connection with anti-capitalism and local community called Acid Detroit. The entire last chapter focuses in on Brown and how he is- in many ways- the epitome and culmination of Detroit’s musical legacy in the way that he incorporates influences from techno, soul, horrorcore and punk but also in the way that he makes sense of post-Fordism on the psyche of someone from the city. Would love to send you a copy! In any case, I think you nailed your analysis and Quaranta is no doubt my album of the year!
Cheers!
Wow, your work sounds very interesting! Will check for it for sure.
Yes, that sounds super interesting. Hit me up on my business email. professorskye business@gmail
I'm not really into rap but I gave this album a listen and really liked it
I felt the same way about that MIKE verse. I gotta peep that album.
5 bags of popcorn on that reference 13:00
AVAA LETS GOOOOOOO SKYE IS HIM
That Subway art book looks interesting
the blade line i think is reference to the detroit rapper blade not bladee
Enjoying the video… loving the lecture…. Odb did die of an overdose
AVAA, Jenns Vacation is actually an interpolation of the 1995 track Cell Therapy by the Goodie mob which was later sampled by Travis scott. The original Goodie mob song is about the hood becoming an increasingly fascist survelliance state and even uses the hook "whos that peeking in my windown? Pow, nobody now." which Danny references. Super cool track!
AVAA, as far as rap albums about sobriety, and sorta about aging too, the first that comes to my mind is a brazilian rap album called "Abaixo de Zero: Hello Hell" by Black Alien released in 2018, black alien has been around since '93 or '94, and kinda disappeared from music due to drug abuse, this album is sort of a comeback both to rapping and to his sobriety, there's some more backstory to it but you can just google it. really recomend the album by the way.
Woah, is Professor Skye a Gregghead? 5 bags of popcorn at 13:03.
Put it this way, my current balance is 65,000 Hei points.
I don't agree with you're analysis of Danny's past work -- writing it off as just edgy fun. Yes, his subject matter is often limited to partying, drugs and sex with occasional forays into trauma and violence, but since at least XXX he's had a pessimism about this lifestyle that sets him apart and puts him in conversation with others writing about similar topics. His forward-thinking and experimental directorial vision goes a long way toward providing a fresh take on this subject matter. To me, this is best showcased on Atrocity Exhibition, which I find to be a harrowing and moving listen. It's music primed for close listening and analysis, not a collection of witty punchlines or hype-up tracks. I think it's telling you lump him and Death Grips together as "youth edginess" and incel music. I don't want to get too defensive here, because I'm aware that Death Grips is associated with a certain kind of pretentiousness that I'm fully leaning into here by writing this, but I think this is a terrible misreading of both artists. I think Death Grips was the most exciting and innovative group of the 2010s. They're iterating on a long tradition of experimental and noise music from Brian Eno to the Residents to Bjork. Their range is amazing, drawing on all kinds of dance music, rock music, rap music, electronic music -- just impossible to pigeonhole. They're subject matter is often dark and violent, but exploring those topics doesn't doom artists to surface-level or puerile art. These artists, both DG and DB, can be fun, but are not just fun. And both have a lot to say about masculinity and violence, which makes the incel label feel misguided at best and like a cheap shot at worst. Danny definitely has some misogynistic bars in his catalogue, and there's room for some introspection there, but his writing is a far cry from the totalizing and conspiratorial anti-social worldview that turns lonely young men into violent women haters.
I hear what you're saying that emotion in rap music is often limited to anger or sorrow at trauma. And I agree it's very cool to hear Danny move into a more understated mode with more emotional range. But I see this album as a continuation of his career-long project -- a project that has always been vulnerable and confessional -- not a break from his past work.
10:21 I actually haven’t listened to the album yet prof, I promised myself I wouldn’t listen to it without buying it. And life has been dealing with me all sorts of ways……AVAA
Ik this is an old video so u might not see this, but i’d love to see a video on LL Cool J. I know you mostly focus on new music, but you bring him up a lot. I don’t know much about him and i’d love to hear your thoughts.
Prof Skye!! AVAA! Are you an On Cinema head?!?!?!
I’m like an empty bottle
@professorskye #1 download!!
Hope ya do the new pink navel x kenny Segal album 🙏 great review as always
Hi! Great channel! Love the new Danny record too. We want to send you our vinyl to check out.
Love the review! I highly recommend Danny’s album Atrocity Exhibition. IMO it’s one of the best hip hop albums of this decade. Very deep, dark, and self aware
Last decade
@@avian972 oops 😅
100 percent agree it's an incredible album. I never know if I should be laughing or crying and if I laugh I feel like it's at the expense of the artist.
Danny literally been about the paradox of growing up into an "Old" dude who's been Grown Up in an environment and mindset of youthful excess and struggle and indulgence and so on, since before XXX. So the tone and content of the album really is no surprise or anything unexpected. Of all the various rappers, he's the one of any of them I think fans expect to 'grow old'. But he's not an "old soul" who finally grows to match. If anything I'd say he's a young soul who has spent his entire career reconciling being in an older body.
He has a great sense of humor and made some hype and wild tracks. But even at his wildest he's always been smart with what he's on about.
I think some people expect Wild Danny, and Danny might have fallen into thinking people expect Wild Danny? But ultimately he is at his best when he's more chill, introspective, etc. His biggest track is still Grown Up, if that doesn't say it all.
I think Mr Morale and the Big Steppers could also fall into the growing and aging category as well #AVA
AVAA, amazing video
Broken Down on RUclips just posted a video of the rhyme scheme on MIKEs verse today
man this is such an easy listen
Joker is the character in smash from persona; he’s a DLC character. The girl with the guns is from a different game.
Im not sure who found the sample first for dark sword angel or red death, but im pretty sure most songs on quaranta were finished by 2021
I think we are seeing an interesting trend of musicians looking at their own toxic traits and how they can overcome them. Since Mr Morale last year, we've seen Kendrick, Mitski, SZA, and now Danny Brown use this framing.
I'm pretty sure Danny wrote this over the Covid lockdown and his label wouldn't release it. Then his project with JPEG made some noise and the label decided to put it out. This is not to go contrary to your comment but to give perspective to what I believe is the timeline.
I was just thinking Bruiser sounded iike if E-40 was Ceelo Green 😅
Dude said Kool Moe Dee lol you know he been listening to rap forever
You should definitely watch Full Metal Alchemits!!
Why doesn't "Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers" qualify as an album about maturity? Kendrick also touches on sensitive subjects in order to grow, he is also brutally honest about his vices and beyond all that kind of reaches a conclusion for a healthier life and mentality, all just like you mentioned Danny does. When describing Dannys album you mentioned that in spite of him being a master of his craft, i find interesting the fact that, on Kendricks album you can observe the same thing happening, giving more light to the topics he talks about. Better contender for a maturing album than "4:44" in my opinion hehe
True! I somehow just didn’t think of Mr Morale until after uploading. It definitely does many of the things that this album does
Not surprising at all that you watch F.D. Signifier but still totally sick
AVAA Do you have a website with a list of books you mention in your channel?
No, but I will eventually do a video all about books on my spam channel
Wonderful! I love your take on music, especially Hip-hop, and want to have greater engagement and analysis of the music I grew up with myself. Thank you for sharing your time on your channel! I always look forward to your videos for a new perspective on records? Any chance you’ll review classics?
18:17 Nardwaur does that every interview😂.
AVAA - you're gonna love kassa when you get into him!
just came back to this video and i have to correct you, ODB was indeed shot but he died of an overdose.
This was cool to listen to right after playing XXX because of the huge disparity in style
5% tint? The original sample is cell therapy by goodie mob
Fun fact: ghost face used to ghost write for odb
27:16 that's Bayonetta, sorry, can't help myself. AVAA
AVAA :) Off-topic: I also have a copy of the super cool Probability Theory text in the back, wondering who's into that enough to put it there :o
The Dr. and Mrs. She loves that stuff.
AVAA | Not lil Peep or Pimp but Lil Yachty did this with Lets Start Here and I was like 😮 ...it should have been nominated over - Her Loss ...easily
I see Danny Brown in the title and Bitches Brew in the thumbnail, I click
That was a small Easter egg connecting to a line in the album about Miles and Frances. Glad some folks picked it up.
@@professorskye Epic. Jazz nods need more recognition
Haven’t seen the video yet but AVAA
As a long Danny brown fan, to me it was expected of him to express more "mature"/"wise" topics
AVAA Professor
I recommand Kaiji for anime. A great psychological anime similar to Squid Game
Loved this album.
AVVA you should go on the Danny podcast.
odb actually passed away from a drug overdose
AVAA professor. That messi bait and switch diss was very well executed. DON’T WATCH ANIME PROFESSOR SAVE YOURSELF OMG
i’m down for more e40convos
Maybe I heard wrong but did you say ODB was shot. He didn’t die from getting shot he died because he swallowed a bag of drugs when studio was raided…