Few rappers have enjoyed more critical praise over the past 15 years than Danny Brown, and deservedly so. Brown has constantly pushed boundaries as an artist, crafted singular bodies of work, and expressed a powerful range of emotions. As Danny’s rate of production slows somewhat (2023’s Quaranta was his first solo album in over four years), it’s worth turning the spotlight on his immensely talented Bruiser Brigade crew.
Bruiser Brigade features the creative chameleon Zelooperz, punchline king Bruiser Wolf, and resident producer/DJ Skywlkr, just to name a few. Rapper J.U.S. has experience as an engineer, and executive produced his debut GOD GOKU JAY-Z for Bruiser Brigade in 2021. Squadda B, a veteran Oakland-based producer who made the beat for Danny Brown’s classic “I Will” on 2011’s XXX and the GOD GOKU JAY-Z track “Have Mercy”, has teamed up with J.U.S. for their collaborative album 3rd Shift.
Recorded entirely in Detroit, 3rd Shift plays like a clinic, representing the overnight work that Squadda and J.U.S. put in. The late night sessions at the Bruiser house are reflected in the title and album cover, a Detroit warehouse. The bass in Squadda’s production hits hard, and fits the quick songs. The “Somethin Else” beat sounds like a twisted Charlie and the Chocolate Factory loop, inviting Fat Ray and J.U.S. to spit concrete. Fat Ray is especially locked in on this track, with wordplay on cheetahs, cheese and cats that twist around your head like Ghostface bars. “Dont Do Drugs” is psychedelic in its treatment of samples, switching up in its last 30 seconds to allow J.U.S. more space.
J.U.S, for his part, raps with precision and Detroit’s trademark humor: “I tried not to eat swine, but it’s good than a motha / I tried not to do lines, but they be callin’ a brotha.” He parries the leftfield production of Squadda with ease, and paints a realistic picture, as on closer “Da Best Out”: “Shake some ass for a real n***a, I be stressed out”. In under a half hour, he raps a dozen songs over often delirious beats. It’s a good sign of things to come for the cloud rap legend Squadda B and the energized Bruiser Brigade.
