Choking on Stardust
I fucking love Danny Brown. One of my 3 rap GOATs. Prolly my favorite man (2025). I feel lucky every time I remember he's alive and sober. Its not the sobriety I'm grateful for, rather the stability it indicates juxtaposed against most of his discography (Die Like A Rockstar, etcetcetc). A world without him would be a worse one.
One of many elements to Danny's spark is his incredible propensity for pushing the edge. His latest album, Stardust, is exemplary. To spoil the conclusion: this is the most compellingly experimental album I've heard this year. The producers and features across the album are a fantastic cross section of the queer-digital-electronic pulse, and to wield them as catalysts for a concept rap album is bold.
Stardust is ultimately a somewhat mixed bad. I love it overall, but there's huge highs and mehs to average out as such. At times magic, at times breathtaking, at times greater in ambition than execution. To unpick such a grand, bold mess I'm gonna to discuss each of the producers in wanton order:
Quadeca brings beautiful, earnest production, and his vocals are perfect for the introspection consistent across his tracks. Book of Daniel fills my heart. To hear Danny embrace his career, his rap, and his life with such pride and self assurance makes for a clear opening statement: his creativity won against the pop/rap/rockstar vices. He's found peace with himself and his art, and Quadeca's strings and keys soar with Danny's optimism.
Miguel Olivera aka Holly fucked up both Starburst and Lift You Up, being my favorite experimental beat and banger on the album respectively.
Underscores is a charismatic pop artist. There's heart but I've always found her production and lyricism to be fairly shallow. Copycats does nothing to change my feelings, contributing very little toward the themes of the album and embracing a pop fame that's out of touch with most of the rest of the production's experimental edge. It was just catchy enough to get stuck in my head and that made me hate it. I prefer Baby but a similar pop thinness makes me dislike it. I woulda preferred this album without either of Underscores' tracks.
Speaking of shallow pop, I expected a lot more from Frost Children. They've got some truly banging production, but Green Light is nothing. Its sexy i guess. Not even really a banger. Hard to believe these artists’ previous collaboration yielded Shake It Like A (one of 2024's greatest bangers). Angel's spoken word across the album is a stark contrast, infusing a moody, poetic, thoughtful arc into the whole project. She gives a backbone to the album, an especially welcome feat on the least focused tracks.
Who the fuck is JOHNNASCUS, cause 1999 is a surprisingly strong contender for the strangest rap beat ive heard. Their screamed and distorted vocals/production is fascinating and resonates effectively with Femtanyl/issbrokie’s style. Lauren Bousfield type beat (strongly affectionate). I wish the album was capable of being this experimental and edgy a lot more of the time.
Flowers with 8485 grew on me (like,, a plant,,, or a flower). Rides the edge of pop's limit while maintaining a fresh edge. Stands alongside Lift You Up as a banger that embraces a pop sound/performance while keep with the themes and ambition of the album. Unsurprisingly, also a Holly production.
ISSBROKIE fucks (or, at least, she wants you to think she does). I generally fuck with her flow and aggression—she's a goodass rapper. IMO Brokie rocks this track harder than Danny, which I hella don't say lightly. Holly brings yet another banging production, the energy appropriately insane for the collab. I can't help but feel the track is a little slight, but I still fuck with it.
1L0v3myL1f3! Femtanyl and the track The End made me wish we got a lot more of Danny flowing on breakbeats, he flows so nice on em. This track meshes brilliantly with the album in production and theme, though the instrumental is a little muddy. Coulda used a bit more of Noelle's sauce, but ah well.
NNAMDI brings a potent tone switch, the track functioning nicely both as a introspective exploration and as transitional piece. Works great as a functional penultimate track for the album.
The End is my standout from the album, kinda inevitably. Cynthoni (previously known as Sewerslvt) is my all time fav solo artist. Breakbeats, dark house, flowing floaty dark drums: these are balms to my burning mind. I'm sure to write more on the subject in a different post. Caveat aside, Zheani fucks up the first half this track, with the sharp drums beautifully contrasting the lofty, gentle piano. ta Ukrainka makes me wanna check out eastern European rap cause the dialect flows crazy nice with its harsher sounds. Pairs nicely with the harsh drums. The End is actually 3 songs, and I find the lack of segue between the first two sections sorta endearing and sorta cringe. Cynthoni's deep house breakbeat is a little lacking in dynamism but bangs nonetheless. The persistent tempo is incredibly difficult to flow on, and the degree to which Danny succeeds is remarkable. I think it works, even if it's the moment where the album's ambition is most evidently a little greater than the execution. That being said, I can't help but feel the ambition is breathtaking. The ceaseless drums give Danny's rap an insistence and tenacity. It gasps of vivacity. The spoken word at the end of The End does so much more to explore the themes of stardom and fame than half the album. It sets up the last track to effectively capstone the album...
Is what I would say if All4U did actually effectively capstone the album. Jane, wtf. It's a notably slim and understated track, neither of which lands very well for this album, let alone for its closer. Danny's rap is as fantastic as it is across the rest of the album, and he does a lot to make the song into a finale that the production simply doesn't. Revengeseeker my ass.
Damn that's a lot of producers and features. Time to conclude.
Danny's flow and rhymes are as solid as ever. He's the best part of most of the tracks (same as ever); Danny Brown is Stardust. However, I wish he didn't shine so much brighter than some of the features and productions. Angel's spoken word across the album is fantastic and gives a lot of cohesion through the flatter pop sections. Holly's production outshone most of the featured producers, which sucks in some ways but I'll gladly take Holly's bangers. Shoutout Quadeca, JOHNNASCUS, Zheani, and Cynthoni for earning their production features.
I wish I had more to say about Danny in particular, but I still feel broadly unequipped to discuss rap directly. W/E tho, I'm just some white queer with an experimental music obsession. I think i fucked the tense of the verbs a bunch of times but I don't wanna fix it.
Is this a punt of an ending? Yeah, so call me JRJRJR. Thanks for reading. Danny forever.