It's been nearly a decade since Danny Brown gained national and international stardom with the release of XXX, his critically acclaimed breakout album. It's among those projects that tread the line between being a mixtape and album, largely because it was initially released for free online through Fool's Gold and picked up steam among the blogosphere.
The applause the album received from critics and fans resulted in an official iTunes released in 2012 with the inclusion of three additional songs. If you're wondering why XXX was released as a mixtape initially rather than a full-length album, Danny took to Twitter today where he explained that it was because his label didn't think it was "good enough."
"I was told XXX wasn’t good enough to be a album so they put it out as a free mixtape," he tweeted. Ultimately, the label attempted to undo their error.
One fan tweeted to the rapper, "It’s crazy how innovators are rarely understood. Album saved my life frfr." Danny replied, "Yours and mine both."
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With the 10-year anniversary of the album's release approaching in August, it seems that a sequel could be arriving to coincide with Danny's 40th birthday. The rapper hit Twitter in October with a short snippet of a freestyle over "circuitloop.", a beat from Knxwledge and Samiyam's collaborative project. "XXXX," he tweeted along with the snippet. No update on whether this could happen but Danny is reaching the milestone birthday next month. We'll see what he ends up having in store for 2021.