XXX – Danny Brown

Year	Album	Artist	Stars	Score	Genre
2011	XXX	Danny Brown	★★½	55	Hip-Hop

A lot about Danny Brown stands out. 

He doesn’t hold back any punches lyrically, hitting you with vulgar sexual innuendos, detailed recaps of excessive drug use and intentionally cringey/inappropriate pop culture references. 

His nasally, hyper delivery is easily recognisable and hard to replicate, but he’s also able to whip out a more natural, serious voice when he wants to get down to business.

His dark and gritty beats match his fiendish energy and often primal depictions of drugs and sex, creating a stark contrast to his more commercial contemporaries, who spin a fairytale, chill  image of drug and party culture most of the time. Many of the beats here directly call back to the low-budget asthetic from his mixtape days, uses flat drum and percussion, with glitchy electronic accents, aggressive loops or keyboards thrown on top to introduce a slight melodic flair. 

The opening half of the record is solid, especially the opening six songs leading to “I Will,” which is the best track here. But as Danny more frequently reaches into his serious bag on the back half of XXX, the album loses some energy. Songs like “Nosebleeds” still sound cool, and “Party All the Time” is a great dark track, but at 19 songs overall XXX overstays its welcome a little. 

He calls out the commercial rap game on “Radio Song,” which includes multiple references to hit tracks from the past few years. I appreciate his efforts to stay individualized and tied to his roots as an independent, underground artist, but even if Danny’s personality shines through, the  record does feel like it’s missing some dynamics or high points that could have made it a little more accessible without jeopardizing Danny’s lyrics.