Danny Brown @ Paradise Rock Club

After three nights of live music and a most unfortunate series of events leading to me walking into Paradise thirty minutes before Danny Brown walked on stage, I was ready for this experience to be as cathartic as possible. The pop-rap which was playing obtrusively from the speakers halts, and is replaced with the huge grimy sound of the Intro to The Atrocity Exhibit. The man of the hour walks out in a leather vest which covers a Frank Zappa T-shirt, as the vibrations of Die Like a Rockstar (but not of pancreatic cancer) rattle the floor at my feet. While the venue was filled to the brim with musty rap-energy, this show was far from a basic rap performance. This detail highlighted by atmospheric interludes, and the fact that the hype-man actually added to the tracks in a musically constructive manner. The second song of the evening comes to a close, and Danny speaks his first of two non-rapping words, “Hi Everyone, my name is Daniel” Brown says through a smile in his characteristic goofy tenor. Then right into I Will, which serves to further increase the gap between Danny Brown and most rappers, as the song is entirely about giving oral favors to women of all pussy-types.

The night follows the discography of the thirty-five year old rapper, from the hits off XXX to the hits off Old to a few singles off Atrocity Exhibit set to release this Friday.

As Mr. Brown gets into the back half of the set, we are all sweaty beasts as accounted for by the condensation dripping from the ventilation system. A few ‘slow’ songs allow for the crowd to recoup as the old rapper raps about how his mom would get money for dinner on 25 Bucks, his convoluted relationship with fame on Float On, and how bad he wanted that fame as a kid on Grown Up. Then after a quick blurb about the tour, he asks the crowd if they would be interested in hearing some new songs to a resounding roar. The choruses of the new songs, Really, When It Rains, Dance in the Water, and Pneumonia, are quieter without fans rapping alongside Dan, but the energy of the old guy never stops for the length of the encore-less set.

-Ryan G.