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Danny Brown talks influences and how he’s “nervous” about his upcoming album

“I feel like I should be nervous when I’m making an album this creative"

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The lead-up to Danny Brown’s fourth record Atrocity Exhibition has gotten tense. The Detroit MC has dropped some exceptionally odd tracks in ‘When It Rain’ and ‘Pneumonia’ and looks set to drop what will certainly be one of 2016’s strongest hip-hop records.

However, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly Brown admitted that he was “nervous” about the impending release of his new album. “I feel like I should be nervous when I’m making an album this creative,” he said.

Creative, indeed. While Brown has previously incorporated trap and grime influences into his music, this latest string of releases has seen Brown’s volatility increase two-fold. Both ‘When It Rain‘ and ‘Pneumonia‘ are exceptionally dark, tense and glitch-heavy. The dub and two-step influences are obvious, but not so much as the sources Brown has called on for this upcoming opus.

Brown told Entertainment Weekly that he had drawn influence from a smorgasbord of artists during the recording process. These include Bjork, System of a Down, and Talking Heads; all of which are perhaps the furthest one can stray from traditional hip-hop custom and aesthetic.

That Danny Brown draws on influences outside the immediate realm of hip-hop is the crux of what makes him a truly unique artist. Hell, even the title of his upcoming record is inspired by both the Joy Division song and the J. G. Ballard novel of the same name. “There wasn’t too much new stuff that came out that wanted to push me and challenge me,” he said. “So I was going through a lot of old stuff.”

Not only did Brown say that he wants to make the most “far-out-there” music possible, but he also revealed his desire to push hip-hop forward. “Like be progressive with it, instead of just trying to do whatever’s hot at the moment,” he said. Only time will tell how fans take to the new “far-out-there” D. Brown collection that’s just around the corner.

Read the full interview here.

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Atrocity Exhibition is out September 30 via Warp.

  • Words: Vincent Dwyer

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