Old

A little-known Detroit rapper with a strange voice burst his way into the consciousness of hip hop aficionados everywhere in 2011 with an album that turned heads. That album, XXX, was a dark, unapologetically profane excursion into the world of Danny Brown, where a past that offered little hope clashed with some outrageously clever commentary on drugs, women, and everything that falls in between.

Now we’ve arrived at Old and for the most part, Brown nails it again. The first half of the record is filled with plenty of retrospective soul-searching and that all-encompassing storytelling we’ve come to expect – just check out ‘Wonderbread’.

The second half is where the lyrics start sliding downhill. However, those into dance music and hard-hitting beats will feel more than adequately sated. Bringing in A-Trak as a producer on the record widens the audience beyond just hip hip fans; depending on your musical palette, this will be a pop bonus or pure heresy.

‘Clean Up’ is where we see a side of Brown that is vulnerable as he laments, “It’s time for me to clean it up/ I’ve come too far to fuck it up”. ‘Lonely’ might not feature any brash, punchy basslines or loudmouth show-boating, but with its pared back beat, Brown creates a moody snapshot in time that’s difficult to forget.

Then you have a track like ‘Handstand’. The less said about this tokenistic nod to twerking, the better.  Elsewhere, ‘Dip’ may not be Brown’s finest hour lyrically, but the thunderously deep bass line and catchy chorus balance it out. Just.

He may be a little older and a little wiser but Brown has used ‘Old’ as a perfect opportunity to diversify rather than rest on the laurels of XXX.

Listen to ‘Lonely’ from Old here:

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