Somewhere along his journey to rap stardom, Danny Brown fell out of love with the thing that led him there. “You know what’s worse? I lost my thirst,” he raps on ‘The End’, the sprawling penultimate track of his new album Stardust, “I lost my thirst, I’m back now and I’m hungry.” There might be a self-reflective throughline across the 44-year-old’s latest effort – and first since becoming sober – but it doesn’t hinge on the introspective, natural flows of Quaranta. Instead, it feeds off the communal energy of a crew of cutting-edge, hyperpop-adjacent artists who help him affirm not just his status and lyrical dexterity, but the reason he keeps falling back in love with music. “You wondered what made things enjoyable when you were younger,” Angel Prost, one half of Frost Children, intones at one point. More than just wondering, Stardust – easeful and electrifying, relaxed and glitched-out – simply revels.
1. Book of Daniel [feat. Quadeca]
Danny Brown doesn’t delve into glitchy electronics right away; ‘Book of Daniel’ is set to clean guitars and piano that make for a revelatory introduction. Though he boasts about being part of the big three in rap along with Kendrick Lamar and Earl Sweatshirt, the track isn’t triumphant so much as a showcase of focused conviction, as if he laid it down after a good night’s sleep. “Fuck punching in, I’ma write till my wrists break/So they can see the words every time they hit play,” he raps. “Rewind a couple times to understand what I’m tryna say/ Still be doing this if the pay was minimum wage.” You won’t need to rewind ‘Book of Daniel’ to understand what he’s trying to say, but you might just replay it for the pure uplift.
2. Starburst
As a lead single, ‘Starburst’ announced Stardust as the rapper’s foray into hyperpop, and it might be the album’s most extreme example; the squeaky synth that keeps being pitched up is enough to ward off uninterested listeners. Then there’s the concluding spoken-word passage from Frost Children’s Angel Prost, which is aware of its own poetic quirks but earnestly builds a conceptual framework around the album. Brown’s victorious flow feels like a continuation of ‘Book of Daniel’, as if his message is impervious to what sounds his collaborators cook up.
3. Copycats [feat. underscores]
An instant earworm, ‘Copycats’ was made within the first 30 minutes of Brown and underscores meeting each other. The 25-year-old April Harper Grey’s greatest asset is helping the rapper churn out a hook that can summarize the entire previous song: “Rap star, pop star, rock star/ Gimme that.” The collaboration also feels effortless because it seems to close the generational gap between the two artists, who can relate on a thing or two about fame and the music industry.
4. 1999 [feat. JOHNNASCUS]
Brown follows up Stardust’s most infectious song with its most abrasive, an industrial slice of chiptune that actually animates him more than most sounds on the record. In the absence of drums, he takes it upon himself to mobilize the song and ends up with one of his most thrilling performances here, while JOHNNASCUS screams like the whole thing’s not frantic enough.
5. Flowers
After ‘1999’, it’s sad to hear Brown’s relentlessness be watered down on ‘Flowers’, which is as poppy but not as catchy as ‘Copycats’. He sounds slightly awkward over it, too, like he’s accommodating the production rather than commanding it.
6. Lift You Up
‘Lift You Up’ is not only as sincere in its positivity as the Romy and Jessie Ware collab of the same name, but leans just as much into house music. It’s reflective of Brown’s post-rehab headspace without really digging into it.
7. Green Light [feat. Frost Children]
Frost Children get a proper feature on ‘Green Light’, delivering a chorus that practically makes the song. I’d rather go with ‘Shake It Like A’ any day of the week, though.
8. What You Need
Quadeca returns for a jazzier, more heartfelt counterpart to ‘Green Light’ – way fewer sexual references, the same take on faithfulness. This is a glimpse of what Stardust could have sounded like had Brown continued down the Quaranta path, but it sounds fitting at this point on the album.
9. Baby [feat. underscores]
This is basically the third love song in a row, which is as crazy as any sound Brown has rapped over. Inspired by Dizzee Rascal’s ‘I Luv U’, the second underscores team-up cashes in on infatuation as pop music currency, and it’s a delight. “I’ve made so many ‘getting my dick sucked’ songs, and you gotta pay your tithes,” Brown said in a recent interview, “but I’m probably gonna be married soon, so it felt right.”
10. Whatever the Case [feat. ISSBROKIE]
You see another guest artist with an all-caps moniker and you already know the song’s gonna hit hard. ISSBROKIE is on the same wavelength as Brown – “I do this shit for the art, it just come with the money” – but her short verse steals the show.
11. 1L0v3myL1f3! [feat. femtanyl]
I’d love to say that ‘1L0v3myL1f3!’ is my favorite song on Stardust, but I’d rather pick another one than say that title. femtanyl concocts one of the most exhilarating beats on the album, blurring the edges of its hyperkinetic drum-and-bass to lend some emotional depth to Brown’s lyrics, which are a smidge wittier than #BLESSED.
12. ‘RIGHT FROM WRONG’ [feat. Nnamdi]
‘RIGHT FROM WRONG’ might register itself as a ballad, but Nnamdi’s presence renders it rhythmically off-kilter; at times you might find yourself tuning out of Brown’s flow to follow its percussive anomalies. As it fades out, Prost delivers the record’s most revealing lines: “You believe true icons don’t reflect on their success/ So arbitrarily, difunctionally/ But it’s hard to make the jealousy turn into actual inspiration.” It seems to flash back to before Stardust was even an idea. “That’s what I need, inspiration/ And everything will be restored.”
13. The End [feat. Cynthoni]
You feel that happening on ‘The End’, which not only showcases Brown’s ability to find some pretty obscure collaborators (and, presumably, inspirations) in Polish indie artist ta Ukrainka and Australia’s Zheani, but also recenters the attention on his lyricism. Stretching over nine minutes, the song is split into two parts, moving from regretful to reclamatory, but Brown really locks in on the second half. “Now I found myself and I got that help from everyone that I love,” he raps, having delivered the proof. “It’s better days, my life got saved, I’m focused on the future.” Prost’s final poem dwells on the magic of allowing yourself to be moved by something, even when you’ve already made it. “Can we enjoy something before we crest and sink into sleep forever?” Maybe that’s what prevents Stardust from falling into pastiche: Brown is actually enjoying it.
14. All4u [feat. Jane Remover]
Danny Brown reiterates every point he’s made on the album, but it feels more like an outbreath. Given his great guest verse on Jane Remover’s album, you’d hope ‘All4u’ had more to it as a collaboration, but it’s more concerned with giving Stardust a digestible, cathartic conclusion that’s less heavy-handed than ‘The End’. What’s more affirming than the acknowledgement that he’s doing it all for us is that he’ll keep doing it, come what may.
