I consider myself a Danny Brown fan, but my favorite Danny Brown songs have always been the more subdued efforts such as this new collaboration with Johnson & Jonson, Changes. Occasionally, I’ll find myself obsessed with a song like Lincoln Continental (I think I put that shit on every mix I made in 2010), but methinks it’s telling that I still insist that dude’s best project to date is Detroit State of Mind 3, as opposed to the usual choices of The Hybrid or XXX. I’m trying not to be presumptuous here, but Brown’s rise of sorts kinda coincided with those latter two releases, so I imagine most of y’all like him because he’s weird and sounds weird (but “has depth” and can “rap” and all that other bullshit that doesn’t sell shit in 2012)
So I suppose I’m asking myself if I’m as much of a fan as I claim to be, given that I tend to prefer Danny Brown when he isn’t necessarily being “as Danny Brown” as he normally is, i.e., not as vulgar and sans ridiculous voice/delivery, but with sense of humor intact (that last one NEVER changes). These are the things I struggle with on a daily basis. It’s hard being me sometimes. Most of the time really.
In the long run, it doesn’t really matter exactly how much I fuck with Danny Brown’s music as long as I’m fucking with it on some level. And I imagine that it’s impossible not to fuck with this song based on pedigree alone. Danny Brown + Blu + Mainframe is rap nerd catnip and Changes is an impressive opening salvo. Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but it is for this “I-prefer-a-more-subdued-Danny-Brown” listener. In my esteemed view, Danny Brown somehow manages to sound menacing (I laughed after I typed that, but that doesn’t make it false) by simply rapping calmly while retaining his detailed powers of observation - even if he isn’t observing anything new or particularly interesting.
I will now wait patiently for the rest of this Danny Johnson project. I’m getting really good at waiting for shit in 2012, thanks to rappers. Mainly because I don’t have a choice and Freddie Gibbs doesn’t care about our feelings…
