“I’m real nervous,” Brown says when asked how audiences might react to his latest material.
I learned how to drive, got a car.
You had never driven before?No.
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I used to be scared of it.
That was a fear I had to overcome.
I’m not the safest driver in the world, so I don’t drive that much.
When didAtrocity Exhibitioncome together?It happened gradually I wrote it for like two years.
I just wanted to find the right beats.
Did that create a degree of continuity forAtrocity?Me and Paul just click musically.
There’s not too many beatmakers that I meet that just make beats.
I hate when somebody say, “I made a beat for you.”
It kind of meshes and matches well.
How have you evolved since your last album?I can pretty much rap over everything.
I’m a pretty good rapper.
But with this album, I didn’t care about what was happening with music today.
It was just all about Danny Brown.
What kind of songs does he write?
What kind of beats does he rap over?
At the time of my life, right now, I’m just all about being creative.
I’m here now, so I’ve just gotta stay here.
Were you exploring any themes lyrically on this album?All my albums are like documentaries of my life.
WithXXX, I was going through [those topics] at the time.
AndAtrocity Exhibitionis all about everything that happened afterXXXcame out.
WhereOld, it was beforeXXXandthe future.
It would be Side A [ofOld],XXX,Atrocity Exhibition, Side B [ofOld].
That’s how this movie would go.
The new cut “Really Doe” features Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt.
The guys I looked at as competition are now my friends.
We’re like the Four Horsemen.
I wanted to have that one classic posse cut.
Then I was listening to Talking Heads, but I would say more aesthetic than songwriting-wise.
I can just repeat lines verbatim.
People don’t want to watch it with me because I’m sitting there saying the whole movie!
There’s always some comedy thrown in there, too.Curb Your Enthusiasmis always a big deal to me.
You know how most people probably watchSportsCenteror stuff like that?
I watch a lot ofCurb, especially when I’m writing.
