Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition

Danny Brown
Atrocity Exhibition
2016
Spotify

One thing that Danny Brown has is a singular voice. You will not hear music like his, you will not find delivery like his, you simply are hard pressed to find anyone like Danny Brown. For some this is a great thing, an artist who has a unified voice. This can come in different forms like the opener of this new record Atrocity Exhibition "Downward Spiral" which is dark, odd and off putting but then the next track "Tell Me What I Don't Know" has an almost sweet sound and some real introspection. Danny Brown is a man who is constantly concerned with his mental state and exploring that through music. Many times you will here him rapping about how he feels or what He sees like an astronaut exploring a new world and reporting back just how that world was affecting him. The few times there are any features on this record Brown pulls his collaborators into his world with him. Kendick Lamar's verses are very much him, but a little wilder a little stranger which works perfectly for Brown. Everyone seems to get wrapped up in his quirk and they cannot help but play along. "Ain't It Funny" almost sounds like it should be in some kind of French farce with these blasting horns punctuating each joke that Danny Brown drops throughout the track.

One of the things that really stands out on Atrocity Exhibition is the sheer amount of words that come out of Danny Brown's mouth. There is very little in terms of chorus verse structure so that gives Brown this freedom to just dump massive amounts of words on you. At times it can be really hard to listen to and his choice of really off kilter beats does not help matters any. His more crazy voice is fun and interesting but the tracks where He leaves that behind like on "From The Ground" and "Tell Me What I Don't Know" are the ones that are the most compelling. In case you had not drawn the comparision between Danny Brown and early Andre 3000 of Outkast, Brown makes it clear on "Today" by actually dropping a line from "B.O.B." and has almost the exact same delivery as that song. Atrocity Exhibition really is an interesting album from an even more interesting artist, but there is likely way to much weirdness here for the average listener. However if you can get past that and really dig in to what Brown is doing here you are in for a pleasant surprise.

7.9 out of 10