Review Summary: The spirit of late-90s Britney Spears must have possessed Danny Brown...
Think about this, can any era of rap music be considered the best? The 80s were more groove and dance oriented, the 90s were raw and gritty yet jazzy and rhythmic, the 2000s were the times to show off your jewelry and rap about women and money, the 2010s brought along drill music and mumble rap, so where do the 2020s stand? Honestly, I'm not completely sure. There's still tons of emo, mumbly, monotonous cloud rap out there and many Chief Keef wannabes floating about, but you also have artists like Danny Brown that know how to have fun and be goofy, but also can rap his ass off. Danny could fit into any era because he's unapologetically himself at all times.
Stardust is Danny's seventh full-length album and, I have to admit, I went in skeptical because the two albums before this paled in comparison to the three before that.
uknowhatimsayin¿ was way too “out-there” for my taste, and while I do really like
Quaranta, it lacked that quirky, weird darkness of albums like
XXX and
Atrocity Exhibit, ultimately being his most subdued album to date. So, what's the verdict on this album? Well, let's just say it's by far Danny's most diverse album to this point, but, once again, does it hold up in Danny's overall discography? Sadly, the answer is a resounding ‘NO’. With all of the different influences, including EDM, hyperpop, industrial, electro, and even bubblegum bass, it's hard to pin down exactly what Danny was going for.
Danny seems to be covering his evolution as a person and a rapper as he says “every album is a chapter, when I die that's life after, so go back and listen see I'm more than a rapper” on the opener, ‘Book of Daniel’, which features some of Danny's most serious-sounding bars and a mature production that is reminiscent of mid-2000s Kanye with soothing piano jazzy drumming. Unfortunately, it's the best track on the entire 50-minute album. The title track is where the spasticness comes into play, the production itself on this track, and most of the album in general, is heavily influenced by EDM as I mentioned earlier, almost sounding like it could've come from a Charli XCX album. Danny's flow also reverts back to his more goofy, high-pitched sound which flows perfectly behind the industrial backdrops of the beat.
The entirety of the album continues down this kind of weird, uneven path. Danny clearly wanted to make an electronic album, but at what cost? I'm a huge fan of Danny's rapping style, but
Stardust honestly would have been better off as a purely instrumental album. The production itself varies from cold industrial sounds to teeny bopper pop tunes. ‘Copycats’ sounds like a damn Cheetah Girls song with a god awful hook and some of the cringiest guest vocals I've ever heard courtesy of underscores. I can see where Danny is coming from, as it seems like this album is meant to be digested by shallow music listeners who don't know any better. ‘1999’ has a nice, early 90s computer game vibe, but the BMTH-esque screaming vocals completely kill any momentum that the two-minute track had.
It really is a shame because there are plenty of moments here that make you think that Danny might turn the corner and bring back some of the whacky, darker vibes from the past, but those moments are always killed by embarrassing vocals, cringe worthy pop choruses and not enough of Danny himself actually rapping. ‘What You See’ is a classic, boom bap throwback with an authentic vibe, lively drum work and Tribe-inspired piano pieces. Tracks like that are just too few and far between. Honestly,
Stardust reminds me a lot of the Porter Robinson album from last year where shamefully annoying, generic pop music took over the entire album thus draining any chance of enjoying the album. ‘Green Light’ sounds like an Owl City track with sterile synth work and horrible emo vocals, completely devoid of anything that made Danny's music enjoyable in the first place.
Maybe I'm being a geezer, but this type of EDM/hyperpop/bubblegum sound only works for me if there is some type of majestic atmosphere, this album has none of that. It reeks of a money grab, sadly, and something that was made to appeal to a larger crowd. I appreciate Danny's willingness to branch out, but the sound he's going for here just doesn't fit his style.
Stardust is an album that hip-hop heads will most likely throw in the dumpster and I can't say I blame them because I'm one of them. It may be what makes him happy, but in my humble opinion, this is a complete swing and miss for Danny Brown.
