\n\t\t<\/aside>\nGiven this creative freedom, Brown\u2019s close proximity to the underground sees him experimenting with hyperpop and other electronic subgenres. But don\u2019t let the experimentation keep you away \u2014 this album gets you moving. Brown has always brought energy to the table, but he has never brought his listeners to the dance floor quite like this. \u201cLift You Up\u201d is a stroke of genius, and one of his best tracks ever, with a groovy beat and a hypnotic loop that would feel right at home on a Daft Punk album.<\/p>\n
Brown doesn\u2019t handle this task of futuristic danceable hip-hop alone. With the help of electronic music maestros like Frost Children, underscores and Jane Remover, songs like \u201cBaby,\u201d \u201cAll4U\u201d and \u201cCopycats,\u201d bring a glitchy liveliness to Brown\u2019s music unmatched by his previous efforts. Still, despite the noisiness of these records, Brown pierces through the static with his newfound clarity and energy. He\u2019s comfortable enough to write tracks about relationships and romantic attraction without the overt toxicity that usually comes with it on his albums.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That clarity is sharpened on his most introspective tracks, with \u201cWhat You See\u201d deconstructing his previously debaucherous lifestyle as a desperate attempt to fill a void that only made him lonelier. He alludes to this power trip being an out-of-body experience, writing \u201cTrapped in my ego, gettin\u2019 whatever he want,\u201d as if his hubris was unconsciously moving him toward this selfish behavior. Dreamy production from Quadeca makes these realizations feel euphoric, while not taking away from the darkness of this part of Brown\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
The introspection continues through the climax of the album, \u201cThe End,\u201d a nearly nine-minute adventure, driven by three different producers, including full verses in Polish and Ukrainian from featured artists. Brown contributes to the all-out nature of this penultimate track, giving an inspiring sermon on trusting oneself and taking life one day at a time. The song also concludes a running motif throughout the album, the spoken word pieces from Angel Prost on authenticity and emotion in a digital era. Railing against the performative nature of the internet, Angel pleads, \u201cCan we enjoy something before we crest and sink into sleep\u201d over and over.<\/p>\n
However, not every experiment on this album pans out perfectly. \u201c1999,\u201d while sonically interesting, is nearly unpalatable in just how grating its skittering electronics can be. And while it is refreshing to hear a new angle on romantic relationships from Brown, they don\u2019t exactly offer anything mind-blowing lyrically, given Brown\u2019s obvious unfamiliarity with the subject. \u201cGreen Light\u201d is the most obvious songwriting sore spot, with a pretty one-note rapping performance about a sexual encounter that even Brown seems somewhat uncomfortable with elaborating on.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\nThat said, these dips in quality don\u2019t distract from the ethos of the album. In fact, they enforce it. Part of this album\u2019s search for authenticity includes stepping into areas that its principal artist is unfamiliar with. These songs aren\u2019t looking to scratch anyone\u2019s itch; they\u2019re the obvious product of a creator embracing discovery and ambition. That will no doubt mean biting off a little more than one can chew. That is much more admirable than creating intentionally unremarkable music, and Danny Brown is anything but unremarkable.<\/p>\n
Daily Arts Writer Nathaniel Evans can be reached at <\/em>natevan@umich.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/aside>\n
Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danny Brown is probably best known for his 2016 masterpiece Atrocity Exhibition, the harrowing journey of a newly successful rapper on an ugly downward spiral. Any ounce of hope or love is snuffed out by Brown\u2019s drug-addled squawking and his distinct choice of manic soundscapes.\u00a0 If that album felt like Brown\u2019s vices searing off his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[4043,380,1002,24,4045,172,4044],"class_list":{"0":"post-4192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"tag-browns","9":"tag-danny","10":"tag-love","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-purest","13":"tag-shows","14":"tag-stardust"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4194,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4192\/revisions\/4194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}