With his highly anticipated new album arriving soon, Danny Brown is currently in full promotion mode between speaking with publications and preparing for his upcoming tour. Recently, the rapper sat down with Entertainment Weekly to discuss Atrocity Exhibition and his writing process for his fourth studio album.
According to the interview, Danny Brown began writing Atrocity two years ago, during which he spent much of his time picking the right beats. Recognizing that his new material is a bit more experimental than what he's released in the past, Brown explained that he's nervous as to how his fans might receive Atrocity, but he also "[feels like he] should be nervous when [he's] being this creative."
"It's all about growing into myself," Danny Brown said, explaining where he is in his career. "When you first start making music, you might try to take inspiration out of people you got influenced by—you might have more ambition than creativity. At the time of my life, right now, I’m just all about being creative.
"And the way I stay here is just making the most far-out-there music I possible can and pushing rap music forward, like being progressive with it, instead of just trying to do whatever’s hot at the moment."
In describing what influenced him during his writing sessions, he named "Björk, System of a Down, Raekwon, Kendrick Lamar, and Talking Heads" as artists whom he listened to. Danny Brown also expressed his deep appreciation for Quentin Tarantino and Curb Your Enthusiasm things that helped shape his process.
"I always watch a lot of Quentin Tarantino movies; the way he sequences his scenes and stuff, I try to do that with my songs. I’ve watched Hateful Eight, like, 50 times already [...] I watch that movie all the time, man. I can just repeat lines verbatim." According to Danny, Curb inspired him to include a bit of comedy into his album.
"Curb Your Enthusiasm is always a big deal to me. You know how most people probably watch SportsCenter or stuff like that? I watch a lot of Curb, especially when I’m writing."
Danny Brown's Atrocity Exhibition—which will feature the previously released "Pneumonia" and "When It Rain" and guest appearances by Kendrick, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q, Kelela, and more—arrives September 30. He'll be hitting the road for his The Exhibition 2016 tour beginning September 14 alongside ZelooperZ and Maxo Kream. Read his interview with EW in full here.
