XXX Turns 10: The Hidden Sadness of Danny Brown’s Melancholic Masterpiece

Rappers were utilizing the internet, technology and virality well before the current age of manufactured TikTok hits and large music sites. As one of the most obvious examples, Soulja Boy was the pioneer of ringtone rap in the early ’00s, making catchy songs and accompanying dances that dominated middle school dances and the tinny speakers of every Nokia and Motorola phone. However, even before Soulja Boy, there was Trick Daddy, who named his 1998 album www.thug.com, eventually buying the address which still leads to the Slip-n-Slide Records site over 20 years later. In 2011, Detroit rapper Danny Brown became one of rap’s brightest stars following the Aug. 15 release of XXX, with most credit going towards The Blog Era.

Burgeoning rap blogs, Tumblr pages, Twitter accounts, message boards such as /mu/ and even YouTube channels like The Needle Drop were part of the Blog Era ecosphere that covered underground hip-hop as a way to provide coverage for the music not seen or heard as widely on mainstream forms of media. For Brown, that required patience. With his nasally voice, chipped tooth and unconventional delivery, Brown was on a wavelength that resonated with Internet-addicted indie kids and bloggers alike.

Prior to his mainstream success, Brown was handed fruitless opportunities, such as an unsuccessful meeting with Roc-A-Fella Records and a near-signing with 50 Cent’s G-Unit Records, whose label head disagreed with Brown’s eccentric fashion choices. He also spent some time in jail, which interrupted his costly routine of taking buses to New York recording studios. Brown wanted to become a rapper, tired of playing the same street politics that kept landing him behind bars. When it became clear that adopting New York rap characteristics wasn’t fitting with his artistic vision, Brown found his true sound right at home in Detroit.

XXX was released as a free mixtape through New York-based label Fool’s Gold Records on Aug. 15, 2011, despite being officially considered his second studio album following 2010’s The Hybrid. The album marked a new decade in Brown’s life, coming just after his 30th birthday. It was his attempt at a concept album, inspired by the cover looking like a vinyl record. It centered around Brown’s duality as he reconciled the darker sides of his drug use and criminal exploits, ruminating on his deteriorating mental health.

These themes resonated with audiences, seeing Brown’s vulnerability as a rare thing amongst the more surface-level rap that dominated the charts. Poignant reflections on his mortality and the decrepit landscape of Detroit following the city’s bankruptcy after General Motors did the same are uttered in the same breath as grotesque descriptions of raunchy sex and comedic punchlines. Brown became a novelty for many who noted his appearance, vocal tone and quick-witted humor as selling points—that does a great disservice to the pain that threads together the whole album.

Opening track “XXX” (pronounced “30”) is Brown’s defense, pleading his case for one more chance for the stars to align. With Frank Duke’s harrowing layered drums and warped vocal samples, the song comes together like a haphazardly pieced together choir as Brown delivers his sermon:

Keepin’ it original, something that’s overlooked
The way a n**** goin’, might go out like Sam Cooke
Or locked up, callin’ home for money on my books
Cause if this shit don’t work, n****, I failed at life
Turning to these drugs, now these drugs turned my life

Despite the album’s harrowing opener, Brown chose the first half of XXX to reflect on the pieces that make him a whole, setting scenes of substance use, partying and sex. The album’s second track “Die Like a Rockstar” comes in with a jarring drum beat, changing the album’s tone into a sleazy recollection of everything that Brown did to get to this point. He forecasts his inevitable death to drug use, positioning himself amongst the likes of Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix.

Brown’s humor serves as a perfect buffer between the uncomfortable candidness with which he describes suffering, and the audience. Little lines like “Do the pretty girl rock, and even though you ugly” on “Radio Song” and the fan-favorite “Stank pussy smellin’ like cool ranch Doritos” on “Monopoly’’ reflect his natural charisma and sense of humor not bound to societal expectations. It’s this rebellion that made him so appealing to these growing Internet communities and indie blogs, and not so appealing to major labels looking to turn Brown into a superstar on the level of fellow Detroit native Eminem. However, some may see the comedic element of Brown’s music as a coping mechanism, as well.

XXX served as a proper introduction to Brown’s brilliant mind, partially aided by stimulants. It was his way of piecing together an autobiographical account of the highs and lows. In the latter half of the album, Brown returns to a more somber state as the lights dim and the curtains close. “Fields” is a sensory overload as he paints a picture of his beloved neighborhood over the cacophonous beat reminiscent of city chatter and bustle. The hypnotic chorus mirrors the monotony of his city as it morphed from industrial mecca to desolation: “And where I lived / It was house, field, field / Field, field, house / Abandoned house, field, field.”