He's got charisma in spades, but on previous records Danny Brown squandered it with explicit cartoon violence that spent too much time shocking and not enough time stunning.
That's not a problem on Old, the Detroit rapper's near-classic third album, on which he tones down his extremities and lets his oddball persona shine. "Used to be lost till I found who I am," Brown raps on the plaintive summery sketch Lonely, a Radiohead-referencing track that feels like a laid-back follow-up to his crossover hit, Grown Up.
Old is an album that comes in two halves: Side A contains the more introspective stuff, like the title track's quickfire backpack rap, the witchy sneeze of the Purity Ring-starring 25 Bucks, and the soul-sampling head-spinner Gremlins.
It's side B where Brown shows off his love of hard-hitting EDM, like the smash-things thump of Dope Song, the grimy throb of Dip and Handstand's ravey breakbeats. Despite the occasional outburst of schizophrenic cacophony, Old is a focused, determined and sublimely produced album that proves Brown no longer needs to rely on shock tactics.
Better yet, you can watch him come of age right here when he performs at the Laneway Festival in January.
