Only right that “Guitar Solo” gets a video, constructed under the “save the best for last” idea. I could very well be wrong but the release of this clip should round out almost every Hybrid track having an accompanying set of visuals. Read the rest of this entry »

Listening to “Greatest Rapper Ever” is when Danny Brown’s music clicked for me. Previous to, I took his demeanor as he presented it: a hood dude who happened to be an amusing rapper with an uncanny delivery. For this track, the jokes play secondary to Danny’s proclamations of excellence. Read the rest of this entry »

Finesse of a low-budget video must be rooted in talent. A weighty skill set is the boiled-down, made-from-concentrate, rap extract a Hip-Hop video made in handheld night vision must begin with. It is as essential as Adam’s rib was to Eve. Read the rest of this entry »

Growing up in one of the few cities in the US that could be considered more desolate than Detroit, I’ve become accustomed to the fact that everything good comes with a price. Whether it’s a Hip-Hop show or a BBQ in the park for a charity, drama is lurking in just about every corner of the city, whether you’re looking for it or not. Danny Brown’s latest video to hit the net touches on the concept that when Read the rest of this entry »

Months ago, I suggested that new names to the scene should take advantage of the tools at their disposal, like YouTube. More recently, I told Jeff Weiss that Danny Brown would be a rap superhero if this were the ’90s, back when rappers didn’t have to have machines, but bars were the entry ticket into the public consciousness. Skilled cats are faceless, mixtape-droppers today and it’s on them to make their mark before even a small label will front the coin required to market them. The viral video machine is a cheap and effective way to add a dimension to an independent artist’s music Read the rest of this entry »

“Ain’t in your top three, then b#tch you can’t count…”

Danny The Hybrid seems to live a enviably, wonderful life doing hoodrat things with his friends. That laissez-faire approach comes across in his lyrics and even more when the budget is there for Danny to shoot a video, as evidenced here in the visuals for the Frank Dukes’ produced track “Shootin’ Moves.” Smoking ounces, shopping for kicks and hanging with chicks in sketchy hotels, accompanied by his latest ally, Tony Yayo. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not particularly uncommon for rappers to flood the listening market with their work. We get mixtaped, trailer’ed and “freestyle’ed” nearly to death. Still, it struck me as odd when Danny Brown followed the release of Detroit State Of Mind 4 so closely with The Hybrid. The Hybrid was definitely more the intentionally more polished of the two and, still, DSoM4 hadn’t even gotten its full term in my iPod rotation. Read the rest of this entry »

“…Still be sitting on the couch if I was signed to Koch, Could’ve signed to the Roc, now I’m signed to the streets, the D the only thing that’s profiting for me.”

As we traverse the rap universe, mapping out what we believe to be “next,” we encounter a wide range of individuals and end up in unfamiliar locales. So while others use their own methods of music discovery, I prefer to follow rappers whose music greets me @ the city limits and then takes me on a guided tour of their town. And that’s what Danny Brown has been doing, but perhaps most eloquently with The Hybrid.

When the internet presents us another free album, it can carry the appeal of being handed a party flyer in the club parking lot, soon to be ignored or discarded at the first opportunity. Then there are those that will manage to catch the attention and deserve a follow-up. After Danny Brown released Detroit State Of Mind 4, it was a convincing affair that warranted that The Hybrid at least got a cursory listen. What was found was the proverbial diamond in the rough. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, well, well. Man finally meets machine.

And when we hear the twists and entendres of our hard-hitting robotic overlord, we shall bend to his will. At least, this was my pervasive thought when I heard Danny Brown say “I fire up the blunt and it tastes like gumbo/Hit the trees hard like George in the Jungle” on Elzhi’s The Preface, or “Brown cuttin’ up white like Bo Rics” on Hot Soup, or “Hot like Phoenix/Three words for you/Kiss my penis” on an early mixtape. Read the rest of this entry »

DSoM4 snitches! If you’re wondering “should I even bother with this?” know that Danny comes with a heavy LC cosign. And we all know LC is anti-radio, anti-fluff and only fucks with the hard stuff. In fact, I think just about everybody in the Crew cosigns this guy. And the mix features production from Black Milk, DJ Babu, Apollo Brown and Wajeed and features from Slum Village’s T3, Guilty Simpson & Trick Trick. Yeah, it’s a Detroit affair, Old English embroidered hats pulled low and the whole nine.

If you’re so inclined, grab the first three volumes of DSoM, which can be found in the post from last week. Get in the know before Danny’s The Hybrid drops on March 16th. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been listening to Danny Brown heavy since he merked out on “Dilla Bot Vs. The Hybrid” off Jay Stay Paid. After giving up the late pass and catching up on his Detroit State Of Mind I-III mixtape series as well as Hot Soup there is no question that dudes talent is boundless. He spits with an unrelenting vigor, cutting his rhymes with equal parts street and lyricism. You can hear that his influences are broad, and that at the root he takes the artistry MC’ing to heart. He’s got plenty of work if you do some digging, and just recently dropped a new video for “Re-Up” which is below. Might not be the best jump off for a new listener, but he’ll definitely open up some eyes and ears.

“I used to get dome up by crackheads, and still got my balls licked by pretty bitches” might be the rawest opening line to a song I have ever heard.

Download – Danny Brown – Detroit State Of Mind Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3

I’m not saying I’m jealous, but when do I get a song called “LC?”

To be fair, although we love our own Contra™ dearly, this single Read the rest of this entry »