Release Date: November 1st, 2011
When an artist’s Facebook page’s info lists their musical influences and interests as simply music, drugs and alcohol, it’s not too hard to imagine what will be the main focus of the songs: anything and absolutely everything. Riding the wave of popularity his XXX mixtape created over the course of 2011, Danny Brown teams up with legendary producer Black Milk to tide fans over until his next full length with a short but sweet EP, the aptly titled Black & Brown. The pairing of the two Detroit (which has turned out to be a breeding ground for unique and talented MCs) natives seem to keep the enigmatic lyricist grounded in a singular sound, if only for just more than 20 minutes. Milk adds some bars that aren’t to be taken lightly—this is mostly about Brown’s penchant for shock value. That’s not to say that the lyrical content contained within comes from out of the same side of Brown’s abstract brain. Black & Brown is a quick trip into the mind of a borderline psychopath, roped in for a short time span by smooth and soulful production.
“Wake Up” lets Brown start things up lyrically in an honest way as he feels like “life is so overrated” and the only things that are certain are “death and taxes, trying to move forward, doing shit ass backwards.” This close-to-the-cuff lyricism is thrown out the window with the first line of “Loosie,” where he announces that he’s “hotter than a barbeque at Satan’s place, these bitches masturbating to my mixtape” and goes on to drop gems such as, “make a bitch pussy a blowhole, she doing well (whale).” Nia Long and Kelly Kapowski namedrops play on as Brown breezes through Milk’s backdrop.
“Zap” lends to more tongue-twisting rhymes where they compare himself to royalty and a cure for sinuses all within the same verse. Milk’s knack for finding the perfect sample plays strong here, allowing for Brown’s out-of-left-field lyricism to seem commonplace. “Jordan VIII” is less an ode to the shoe M.J. used to lead the United States to the gold in Barcelona and more an excuse to list a lot of places in which he likes to smoke marijuana—he smokes a lot of marijuana in a lot of different places, baby mama cribs being a favorite. He also appears to really enjoy receiving fellatio.
He rips through the last half of the album with the same fervor and ferocity as in XXX until the EP comes to an end with standout title track “Black and Brown.” Milk starts Brown off with a chorus of violins and some quotables of his own (“Here to save the game just like memory card, memory loss to Cali dro, to Amsterdam, out on the patio, Rocking like a Beatle, I should record up in Abbey Road”), and Brown takes the baton and blasts off with it.
Black Milk & Danny Brown – Black & Brown EP tracklist:
- “Sound Check”
- “Wake Up”
- “Loosie”
- “Zap”
- “Jordan VIII”
- “Dada”
- “WTF”
- “LOL”
- “Dark Sunshine”
- “Black and Brown”
