Most Danny Brown fans got hooked around XXX ("Monopoly"!), but in truth Brown lived a full rap career before XXX ever came out. Between 2003 and 2010 he put together an eleven-project run that culminated in his 2010 free album The Hybrid.
Brown is 35 years old now and more popular than ever. With his album Atrocity Exhibition due out next month, now is an appropriate time to revisit the lesser-known stage of his career.
Swipe through the gallery to listen to 10 of the best songs from Danny Brown's mixtape era.
Yes
"Yes" | Runispokets-N-Dumpemindariva (2003)
In 2003, Danny Brown was 22 years old a member of the Detroit rap trio Rese’vor Dogs. The group also featured Dopehead and Chip$. The trio released an outrageously titled mixtape Runispokets-N-Dumpemindariva; "Yes" was the tape's most popular song. Brown's talent was evident even at the very outset of his career. The only thing this song was missing is DMX.
"Mean Mean Pride" | Detroit State of Mind (2007)
After being released from an 8-month stint in jail in 2007, Brown decided to pursue a proper rap career and released a mixtape called Detroit State of Mind. Few rappers could executive a flip of Rush's "Tom Sawyer" with such conviction, and as always, Brown raps every syllable with purpose: "Spinning niggas round just like a merry-go / With your baby mom, 'bout to get fellatio."
"Freestyle" | Detroit State Of Mind 2 (2008)
Detroit legend J Dilla produced many of the beats on Brown's 20-minute DSOM2. In other words, many of the beats have strong personalities that are fun to rap over but overshadow Brown's chops to some degree. One exception is 62-second "Freestyle," an interlude with a restrained instrumental (save for its snap snare), leaving Brown room launch a furious vocal attack.
(9:39 mark)
"Dance" | Hot Soup (2008)
Brown has always been an underrated hooksmith. It's not actually surprising, given the sheer volume of memorable lines he has produced. Take the opening line of the "Dance" chorus, for instance: "And I ain't too tough to dance / Let me adjust this heater bulging out of my pants."
"Dance" is a romp, a celebration of a "new Motown" sound.
“LOL” | Detroit State of Mind 4 (2010)
Brown's sound matured between "Dance" and "LOL." "LOL" packs a punch equal to nearly any song off XXX, despite the fact that it involves Danny Brown recalling his drug-dealing escapades in terms of text acronyms. "If it ain't about money, TTYL!"
"Gametime" | Detroit State of Mind 4 (2010)
Like much of the Detroit State of Mind series, "Gametime" is clearly indebted to Nas' Illmatic. (In 2011, Detroit veteran Elzhi would release his excellent Elmatic, an album of Illmatic reduxes.) But Brown is forever indebted to local hero J Dilla, and he couldn't help but throw in a Dilla reference: "I'm tryna chill from going nuts / Plan to drink a fifth while I listen to Donuts."
"Detroit State of Mind Pt. 2" | It's A Art (2010)
The confusingly title "Detroit State of Mind Pt. 2" actually appeared on Brown's 2010 It's A Art, his collab mixtape with Mainframe and Blu, who are known together as the production duo Johnson&Jonson.
“The Hybrid” | Hybrid: Cutting Room Floor (2010)
One of the many great things about Danny Brown is that he offers incomplete thoughts/shards that are nevertheless detailed and telling insights into his manic psyche. "I'm the first to breakfast, late to dinner," he opens on "The Hybrid," an outtake from his acclaimed 2010 album The Hybrid.
Listening to "The Hybrid," it is clear that "Monopoly" is just around the corner.
“Greatest Rapper Ever” | The Hybrid (2010)
The Hybrid was the album that formally kick-started Danny Brown's career and earned him a deal with Fool's Gold. (He has since signed to Warp Records.) But on "Greatest Rapper Ever," he wasn't signed yet to anyone yet, and he reflects on a time (around '07) when Roc-a-Fella showed interest: "could have signed to the Roc, now I'm signed to streets." He also shouts out Rosario Dawson and sneak-disses Young Dro.
“Re-Up” | The Hybrid (2010)
Danny Brown is an open book. He shares the good, he shares the bad. Sometimes for Brown, the good and the bad collide. "Used to get domed up by crackheads," he raps on "Re-Up." One isn't exactly envious of Brown's relationship to crackheads, but they are certainly envious of his conviction. He raps with such force that he makes getting domed up by a crackhead sound like the coolest thing on the planet.