The last time we heard from Danny Brown, he told us just how deep his musical tastes run, from Cabaret Voltaire to Kid N’ Play to System of a Down. So, no, we’re not surprised he just signed to Warp, keeping Fool’s Good on retainer as a “creative partner” for the rollout of a new record that was revealed via a Timothy Saccenti video yesterday.
“You know Fool’s Gold is still my family,” Brown said in a Zane Lowe interview earlier today. “They still helping me out with this project…. Warp came in, and I was always a fan of what they did too. They have a big strong history and legacy. I feel like I could progress a little more in that world.”
No kidding; as it turns out, Brown already linked up with one of his new labelmates (Rustie) on the rapper’s last album. Three tracks featured his fluorescent beats, including the single “Dope Song”:
As for whether Rustie will reappear this time around, the only confirmed producer we know of so far is the sorely underrated Paul White, who was responsible for the restlessness of “When It Rains”:
“When I first heard the beat it reminded me of one of those old ghetto tech instrumentals we’ll be like jittin to,” Brown said of the song. “You know what I’m saying? At the house parties and stuff. That’s why I put the jitting in the video. To me that’s what it reminded me of, just a Detroit party in the basement jittin in a circle. It took me back to them days. That was like middle school days.”
Another admitted influence on the video and overall album was Talking Heads. “It started out with my manager buying me a book,” explained Brown. “I read about them before I even started to really listen to their music. He bought me the book about Fear and Music so I was reading about that. The way they had prompted that album at that time and the way they was doing a lot of that stuff is what I’m incorporating into what I’m doing right now. Right now I’m messing around with Little Creatures. More so even their approach to how they brought it to you visually is what I’m more intrigued with. David Byrne is a legend. I look up to people like that and I try to incorporate that into rap music.”
Listen to the rest of Brown’s Beats 1 interview here:
