Danny Brown on The Downside of Rap

My rap career is a total different world than what this is. Of course. My rap career I would say what made that bad is that I started a little too old. So I didn't really get recognition or, you know, until I was 30 years old. And you got to think I've been trying to do this my entire 20s. So when I started to be a rapper and get recognition for it and being that I had a bitter attitude towards it. You know what I'm saying? Because it took so long for it to happen. That happens a lot. And then now I'm 30 years old. It's a 30 year old rapper. It's like how it's like a ticking time at that point. How much time you got. Really? So I'm already in my head. I will say a lot of people say like being a rapper is dangerous like, you know, because of all the killings and shit like, but I would say being a rapper is dangerous in the sense because once you do it, you can't do nothing else. It ruins you. How so? So let's just say, okay, let's just say I was a rapper and then it failed. Then I got to go get a normal job. Well, if anything fails. But I had minimal success. You saw my video somewhere. I had a couple of you. Yeah. Now I'm working on a job with you. Now you're like, oh, you. Blah, blah. Yeah. And everywhere you go, somebody. That's true. So you always recognize. That's true. So you're always getting acknowledged for your failures. But that's true. Every time someone, so just imagine every time someone recognizes you, they're acknowledging your failure. That hurts. It hurts. Of course it does. But that's what happens in all walks of life. Every time when you fail and people get to shit on you and if you're a public person. If you work for us at McDonald's, no one cares. Don't you remember Gary Coleman? Nigga. Gary Coleman from Different Strokes? He started working as a security guard and people would just shit on him relentlessly. I'm like, imagine that. Because if it was just a security guard, no one would care. You would never walk up to a security guard and go, look at this fucking loser. You're a security guard. That's exactly what I'm saying. So it's the same thing with accuracy. So me being Danny Brown. I can never go back to being Daniel. Danny, you don't have to first of all and don't. And don't even think about it. Don't even think about it. You don't have to. You're never going to have to do that. I know what you're saying, but you can't think about like worst case scenario and dwell on it like that. You are of personality and the personality can do anything it wants to do. You're a fun guy. I think about that and I love that too. Because you got to think the last album I put out was 2019. Yeah, you were saying that. And that was your torrent infrequently. No, I worked on that album with Q-Tip from, you know, just to be able to work with Q-Tip was such a fucking big deal to me. For sure. And you know, it gave me confidence in my music to be in effect that a trap called Quest was my dad's favorite rap group. I remember going to my dad, taking me to fucking preschool. I mean, I'm preschool. It wasn't that early, but whatever, whatever. But elementary school, my dad taking me to school and he listening to a trap called Quest. And before I know it, one day I'm sitting in the studio with Q-Tip every day working on an album. So it was fucking, it was a big deal. You know what I'm saying? It was a big deal for me. And you know, we made that album and I just think the world of music have changed so much. Where like a 10 second TikTok beat means way more than you putting out a single. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah. Like that whole shit changed. So the way I grew up, the way I grew up, like me, my favorite rapper is Nas. And Nas just put out a new album and that album is fucking amazing. You know why that album is amazing? It's because Nas is having fucking fun and Nas is able to make music without any fucking, you got to think. Well, Nas is really rich. Like he's got a bunch of different businesses. It wasn't always like that though. No, but I'm saying like right now, if he's doing rap right now, it's because he wants to do it. Yes, but it wasn't always like that. He had the whole situation of what he went through. Oh yeah. With his divorces and all. But yeah, yeah, yeah, it's all public. Yes. He's the best lyricist ever, in my opinion. This fucking shit is so complicated. The way he does things backwards, that one song where he does backwards, rewind, that's a brilliant song. You want to have his comment bro. We don't want to talk about this. Just for me. So Nas is like, and I've had the opportunity to meet Nas a lot. I wouldn't say a lot, but he knows what he means to me. You get what I'm saying? Yes. So actually he wanted to sign me to his label. I didn't sign to him because, I mean, whatever. I mean money man, money, money man. The other contract was more money man. Yeah, I get it. And that's what it is. But sometimes I think about that, did I make a mistake? But like damn, just because the artist that I looked up to my entire life that made me be a rapper tried to sign me and I didn't sign with him. All because of money. And I'm not saying like, I feel any way about being with Warp. Like I love Warp. Warp is, you know, they've done, part two, Warp has made me a better artist than what I actually am. How's that? Because like, okay, it's this evening out. That the album that I just, I made album during COVID, obviously. We were sitting around when nobody could do nothing. And I just felt like, oh shit, I ain't. So I just started going to the studio and just started recording songs, making music, record album. And this is the album that we're going to release. But the album been done for like three years. You know, and. Well, what's been the holdup? You don't know? So, it's on them? That's what happened when you signed the record labels. Oh, Jesus. Bro, you want to hear it? Bro. All right. You want to hear it? All right. Three years? I might need another drink. I think you need another drink. I might need another drink. Yeah. All right. So check this out. Danny Brown, being a regular rapper from Detroit, whatever. All right. Whatever, sir. Thank you. Cheers. I'm not even going to go into Tony AO and G on it. Oh, we're shit. Just get to the point of. So, I remember being, it's a festival in New York at the time. It was called CMJ Festival, which was like a cool. It was like, you know, same thing as South by Southwest with it. It's a Texas. That's what it was for New York. They had this festival, CMJ Festival. And at one of these shows, they had at Brooklyn Bowl, Fools Go Records, through a show. And Kanye showed up and it shut the whole shit down. And I couldn't go. I couldn't get in. I was like. And to me, I was like, man, Fools Go Records, like, man, they like the shit. Like, if I could ever be cool with Fools Go Records, like, whatever I can do to be down with Fools Go Records, I would do. You know what I'm saying? Type shit. So then shit goes on. I ended up getting a situation. I started talking to Fools Go. And I don't think they were really into a sign of me at the time, but Q-tip from a tribe called Quest was real close with Atrack, who's one of the owners of Fools Go. And they hung out. And Atrack was like, man, we thinking about signing Denny Brown. And Q-tip was like, nigga, thinkin'. Are you retarded? Like, this is one of the illest things you could do. He broke it down to him like, what makes me so ill? Which I can, we can talk after. That has to be nice. No, I'm literally like, super ill. When it comes to rap, it's like cheating. I'm like, steroid. It's too bad. Like, I can cheat. It's too bad. So then, he was like, fuck it. Yeah, I'm gonna sign it, cuz. So then I already knew I was gonna get signed to Fools Go. We already had this to each other. So it was no negotiation on what the shit was. So I was going in interviews already. I would do interviews and they'd be like, what's gonna happen? We move and I'd be like, oh, I'm signing to Fools Go. So, boom. To say that, we signed a contract. I signed for $5,000. Literally, $5,000. And it was South by Southwest happening the next week. And I had like, two shows. So I literally spent the entire signing bonus at South by Southwest the next week. So I had no money. Super broke. Whatever the fuck. I'm living off my girl. You get what I'm saying? Her banking on me making it as a rapper kind of situation. You hear what I'm saying? We do whatever we do. We get that. But then the album comes up and at the time, no one really thought about the album. I would think no one, I did. But at that time, no one thought that the album would be like a big deal. The album would come out at one fucking album of the year in Spin Magazine. It ended up being one of the best albums I ever had in my career. But when you think about it, it's like a person back against the wall. When you listen to the album, I'm back against the wall. The whole concept of the album is rap music is all about being young. 20 year olds. The album is called 30. This is an album about a 30 year old rapper just now starting to get a break in how he feels. Yeah. The album did good. It did good. Congratulations. It did good. It did good. I'm saying not like sales wise or anything like that, but culturally, it did good. It got recognition. So I was able to get a lot of shit from that. You know, I got a lot of deals and signed a lot of shit and then my next album after that was old. It's called old. But that charted Billboard. But it was a lot of money. Like I spent like it was a lot of money spent in that. I say that to say this. Okay. As me as a kid from Detroit, God good at rap. All right. I know how to rap. A record label signs me. I rap for this record label. Take an album. In my head, as when you start to make music, you want to be as experimental and to be you as much as point you don't understand is the thing called music business. So you're not thinking about business. Just thinking about art. I'm just trying to make the best me. Illmatic was the greatest I've ever heard in my life. So to me it's like Illmatic and other one is Cannibalox, Colvane. So to me it's like I'm trying to make albums to mirror those. I'm just trying to like as me as a rapper, as an artist or a musician, trying to like shit that I was influenced by, like trying to make a piece of art that could stand next to that. You know what I'm saying? But at this point in life, that shit don't matter no more because it's too much money to be made behind this shit. You know what I'm saying? So I didn't care about this shit. So do you think that by trying to make something that stands next to that somehow or another you'll lose money? Definitely. How come? Because time changed. Time changes how? The shit that we liked in 1994 or we don't like it in 2004. I still do. I think a lot of people still do. Yeah we do but we got to think about the kids. Dude I still listen to Cool G Rap. Have you listened to Playboy Carti? No. See? Well I don't listen to anything. I can't know everything. Playboy Carti. I don't have enough time. Bro Playboy Carti can shut down his whole shit. I'm being honest with you. Can we play some of it? We can play some of it right? You probably what? Which uh? No. No? No. Why? Just something. See look I'm gonna be a hater now by saying no. But no. No. No we're not gonna play no Playboy. Why? Cause this is my Joe Rogan interview. Okay. Let me know about the fucking game. It's not gonna hurt you if he gets a little love. Alright. You just gave him some. Playboy Carti does not need no love. I'll tell you we'll play that. We'll play a little of that just to educate me and educate the people that are listening. And then we'll play. Playboy Carti. Give me a Danny Brown track that you like. I definitely don't want to hear you mind after this. Play Playboy Carti. Stop breathing. Bro you don't get it. I don't get it. Help me out. My music is like standard comedy in essence. Oh you want to hear some of my send up comedy rap? Sure. We'll do that. We'll do that. Bitch only thing you gotta know my dick touched the ground when I'm sitting down on the floor. See that's the thing about rap. Like you know me I was into comedy and so I took my whole shit from comedy to where I were rapped. So what I would do I would just sit around and write punch lines all the time. So I write punch lines. So think about this. Look I'm about to give you all niggas the game. So 16 bars of verse. It's four punch it's four lines for verse. So let's just say if I sit around I listen to a Joe Rogan episode someone says ill punch line on there. Uncle Joey he might say some crazy shit. You get what I'm saying just some crazy shit. A line. Just one line. Just that one line. It's 16 bars. So one line could create four bars. So every line I get four bars. So I need four lines to give me a 16.