Danny Brown has always found success in coloring outside the lines. Not one to be pigeonholed, the chameleon MC Detroit native never shies away from experimenting and pushing boundaries, collaborating with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Charli XCX, Purity Ring and IDLES without ever sounding out of place.
With his latest outing, one of hip-hop's most prominent talents finds himself thrust into the realm of hyperpop, engaging in a genre odyssey, delving into bouts of depression, substance abuse, love – and ultimately finding a sense of purpose in it all.
Stardust is Brown's sixth solo studio album, and while it's his first full-fledged foray into hyperpop, it's notably the first project he's written and recorded since getting sober. This change in lifestyle is evident in the music; not only in the content, but also in the clarity of its presentation, with each word seeming more and more decisive.
Brown has always combined the versatility of his music with an incredibly malleable flow that warps and bends to fit any instrumental. Some of these moments on this record are so impressive that at this point it seems like there's nothing this man can't replicate.
What's equally impressive, if not more so, is that he manages to combine some of his most personal and thoughtful lyrics to date with some of the boldest instrumental choices of his career. femtanil-help “1L0v3myL1f3!” is a prime example of this, with Brown floating effortlessly over an instrumental that moves at breakneck speed from incredibly upbeat drum patterns to glitchy, distorted synths while his verses sound like an abbreviated autobiography.
The journey was marred by years of substance abuse and mental health issues, themes and stories that found their way into the albums, which Brown himself calls the record a reflection of chapters in his life. With this in mind, Stardust feels like not only a new chapter, but the first in an entirely new book, defined by a new sense of purpose, palpable positivity, and a hopeful love of life that was sadly absent from much of his past work.
This shift in perspective is obvious from the start Stardust: QuadekaThe intro of “Book of Daniel” fades into soft guitar strums as Brown reflects on his personal accomplishments and how music helped him rise from rock bottom (“Been a drug addict with a habit / 'Cause this life couldn’t understand it / Now it’s magic / When I sit behind this mic with a snippet”).
From here, Brown dives headlong into the glitchy, warped style of hyperpop that defines this record. Brown never lets off the gas, from the ferocious beat of “Starburst” to the house bop of “Lift You Up” and two infectious emphasizes– featuring “Copycats” and “Baby”, who have hooks that are simply terrible.
The album's highlight is the nearly nine-minute “The End,” which, despite being the penultimate track, feels like its epicenter. Brown's verses—especially a couple in the first half of the track as he explores the heights of his addiction, describing it as a war he lost with himself (“Couldn't cope/I lost hope and lost control”)—are the strongest on the record here, before he moves on to describe the lessons learned from that experience in the second half of the song, looking forward with an optimistic light in his eyes.
The only real feature of “The End” is that the last two minutes contain a spoken word excerpt from Angel Prost (Children of Frost), the longest of a series scattered throughout the record. For the most part, these pieces aren't really an issue, but this one in particular is a big momentum stopper placed right before an excellent album. Jane Remover– helped bring “All4U” closer, becoming the only moment on the album that is undoubtedly skippable on repeat listens.
Generally, Stardust this is Brown's strongest album since 2019 I don't know what. It's a concise, confident and uplifting piece of work that will give fans hope for what's to come. While history promises that we won't have any idea what direction Danny Brown will go next, we do know that the blogging era's most eclectic and eccentric figure is back and edgier than ever with a whole new lease of life – and that in itself is a reason to be excited.
