We wouldn’t have known, but the world might have never heard a new Danny Brown song after 2023. He recently admitted that he planned to quit music two years ago as he checked himself into rehab. This would have been a shock, as just preceding his stint recovering from drug and alcohol abuse, the raucous, genre-bending enigma that is Daniel Dewan Sewell had hit another peak in his generational run.
First came his illustrious collaboration with JPEGMAFIA, Scaring The Hoes, fabled not only for Peggy’s ridiculous sampling but also for some of the the most lugubrious bars spat on a record in 2023. Then came Brown’s last solo album, Quaranta, which diverged from JPEG’s messed up configurations of old vinyls for a more personal, reflective collection of songs marking a desperate time for our experimental hero. Now, Brown releases his sixth studio album, Stardust, beginning a foray into hyperpop, digicore and all the other -cores that make up the terminally-online world of modern alterna-pop and ever-elongating his streak of making unfathomable records.
When XXX landed in 2011, Brown was at the forefront of underground rap, mixing bass heavy beats with streetwise witticisms filled with drug-addled and rageful charm. Nearly a decade and half later and the 44-year-old is pushing boundaries even still, collaborating with a collective of young artists at the forefront of bursting open the envelope of what a record can be.
Stardust opens with Brown’s ode to himself, “Book of Daniel”, with Quadeca, where he lays out his past and makes it clear that rap is his game and will forever be, sober or not – underlining his assertion that this record is his first that is completely natural.
What follows on Stardust is anything but rap – production-wise. Sonically it transmutates between hyperpop glitchiness, EDM pumped uppiness, jilted breakbeat and a whole host of other sounds scored to melt a layperson’s cranium into the matrix. Brown has stated that during rehab he was allowed 30 minutes of phone time a day and he utilised this to repeatedly study Laura Les’ and Dylan Brady’s 100 gecs sound. It’s therefore unsurprising that Stardust has Les and Brady blueprints throughout, acting as a reverent nod to the spliced digi-heavy, VST/DAW malfunctioning sound 100 gecs have brought into a slightly more commercial field.
With the reflection over after “Book of Daniel”, Brown is quick to raise the tempo on “Copycats”, featuring his new favourite and most highly regarded producer underscores. The song starts like any AG Cook/Brat synth-house club classic reminiscence before breaking into a speedy drop allowing Brown to freely wax physical. This is a recurring theme throughout the record, also seen on his collaboration with 8485, “Flowers”, in which Brown does indeed deserve all the digital fauna alluded to.
“Green Light” offers more of a quintessential hyperpop touch, channelling what the genre used to be (when it was basically just PC Music, SOPHIE and affiliates) as well as what it is now, propelled by Frost Children’s whiney emo-for-the-future take.
Stardust has only two songs not featuring guest spots, single “Starburst” and 90s house replica “Lift You Up”, but this wealth of creative input is for the most part a strength. The album hits a crescendo when Brown incorporates alliance with breakbeat revivalists Cynthoni (previously Sewerslvt) on “The End” (although if you call it breakbeat on Reddit you’ll be scorned by a host of comment warriors telling you it’s actually liquid jungle). Regardless, the eight minute epic featuring Ta Ukrainka and Zheani is a war cry to the video game-esque existence and mutations Brown has laid bare for us all throughout his career across the highs and lows, the awkward breaks and the euphoric climaxes. It races like the soundtrack of the PS1 classic Wipeout, but Brown doesn’t dare try and emulate a jungle MC, instead delivering his takes with his familiar squawk.
Despite the diversity of collaborators, the album does have parts that sounds a tad samey and perhaps certain sections could have been left out. However, Stardust is a victory lap for Brown capped off with “All4U”, featuring a selection of perfectly atmospheric sounds programmed by Dariacore creator Jane Remover and a relentless onslaught of words from hip-hop’s UNCexpected innovator.
