How usually do you hear an album that feels genuinely unprecedented? Danny Brown’s Stardust lands like nothing else in hip hop proper now.
It’s a daring fusion of his Detroit rap roots and the fractured euphoria of hyperpop.
At 44, Brown nonetheless carries the wild-vein of his earlier self; nasal yelps, unhinged supply, lyrics that leapt into bedlam. However Stardust asks a distinct query: what occurs when that chaos meets sobriety?
That is Danny Brown sober, reflective and collaborating with a technology of producers half his age who’ve been raised on SOPHIE, A. G. Prepare dinner and the progressive sounds of the internet-underground.
Although its house is Warp Data, the album appears like a hand-over second; its DNA (hyperpop/digicore underground) recoded by youthful producers whose vitality pulses beneath every observe.
In a latest interview with NME, Brown made it clear the aim was to “make SOPHIE proud”.
Opening with ‘E-book of Daniel’ (that includes Quadeca), the album alerts a definite shift; forgoing playful detachment in favour of an sincere, forward-looking stance.
From the primary chords and drums you sense a shift: there’s not one of the ironic distance that underpinned his earlier work. As a substitute you hear clear guitar chords, slowly constructing drums and Brown rapping about development, legacy and inventive integrity.
When he says, “I’m greater than a rapper,” it would initially really feel like a misstep – as if his emotional vary one way or the other elevates him past style.
However give it time. What he’s actually doing is increasing what rap can comprise, broadening its emotional spectrum as an alternative of escaping it.
As a result of that’s what Stardust is. It’s a sobriety album, sure, nevertheless it’s additionally a treatise on flexibility versus rigidity as artists age.
Brown finds himself at a crossroads the place many musicians falter: he may have doubled down on the wild persona that made him well-known or he may have advanced.
He selected evolution and the music displays that alternative in its hybridity.
“Starburst” kicks issues into excessive gear. Produced by Portuguese DJ Holly (credited on the lead single) the observe delivers the squealing synthesiser chaos Brown followers crave.
Additionally, don’t miss our in-depth function on how underground seems like hyperpop, glitchcore and darkwave are reshaping music in 2025 – test it out at Neon Music
However now the lyrics aren’t about substances and extra – they’re ego-driven another way, boasting craft relatively than consumption.
You hear the reference factors: the nerdy, playful touches that present Brown’s cultural vary.
Within the Frost Youngsters-supplied interlude, Angel Prost delivers a murmured poem about being “drunk with stardust,” a delicate hinge that shifts the dialog from habit to cosmic give up in a single breath.
That second reframes habit not merely as a private battle, however as a common pressure; one thing odd to listen to in Detroit rap, but totally in line with Brown’s new imaginative and prescient.
On “Copycats,” with Underscores, Brown interrogates id via consumption: “Give me that pop star, give me that rock star, give me that rap star.”
The repetition hammers house how we outline folks by what they eat relatively than who they’re.
The lyric that means right here cuts deep when you think about Brown’s journey: shifting away from defining himself via consumption (medication, alcohol, intercourse) towards creation and connection.
Then “1999” arrives (produced by Johnnascus) and the tone will get nerdy as hell. Brown raps about Kangol hats, zoot swimsuit riots and the speculation that the world resulted in 1999 and we’re all trapped in a simulation.
“We glitch in, no fixing, we’re useless inside.” It’s Gen X disaffection assembly millennial irony, however Brown pushes previous each towards one thing extra honest.
The beat breaks into shards of static and shards of funk; one thing extra like a distressed arcade circuit than a standard hip-hop groove.
“Flowers,” that includes 8485, flips into full 80s-inflected hyperpop mode: discordant robot-punch sounds that ought to not work however do. Brown’s verse about dandelions in his mind feels psychedelic with out substances, which is the complete level. The aggression that’s at all times been there may be simply redirected.
“Elevate You Up” could be the album’s centrepiece. Beneath a house-leaning beat (one among Holly’s contributions) Brown displays on being an underdog, on comeback narratives, on gratitude: “Another person’s shine doesn’t make you uninteresting.”
It’s recommendation for youthful listeners and a reminder to himself. The observe correctly showcases digital dance music’s Detroit roots, which matter when discussing this album’s hybrid sound.
EDM and home got here out of the identical post-industrial Black Midwestern situations that birthed hip hop. Brown will not be borrowing – he’s reclaiming.
What makes these collaborations work is mutual understanding. Brown will get the aesthetic: the earnestness, gender-fluidity, progressive politics of the youthful scene.
And these youthful producers perceive the place he comes from, what Detroit rap means, what it took for him to get right here.
That analogy holds on each side, which is why tracks like “What You See” (with Quadeca) and “All4U” (with Jane Remover) really feel cohesive relatively than compelled.
“What You See” addresses the disgrace that comes with habit head-on. “What do you see in me?” isn’t just romantic vulnerability – it’s somebody who has felt unlovable asking why anybody would stick round.
Brown traces his personal misogyny again to heartbreak, to attitudes he learnt implicitly. The self-awareness is uncomfortable and crucial.
The Underscores-produced “Child” takes issues in a playful path, a tongue-in-cheek hyperpop love tune.
Whereas not a canopy of Justin Bieber’s observe, it nods to pop tropes via a hyperpop lens.
One observe that stands out for its brisk depth is “Regardless of the Case” (that includes IssBrokie).
Its frenetic manufacturing and clipped lyrical supply reinforce the album’s thrust towards reinvention.
At simply over two minutes, it acts nearly like a relay dash earlier than the album pivots into extra expansive, introspective territory; a second of pure hyper-rap urgency inside the broader sober reflection of Stardust.
Then “1L0V3MYL1F3!” with Femtanyl builds round jungle beats and the Amen break, opening into this beautiful, expansive refrain: “By no means take this shit with no consideration / Sound like run the planet.” Brown is true on the nostril: zero irony, simply gratitude.
“Proper From Unsuitable” (that includes Nnamdï) continues the religious thread.
Brown preaches right here with a preacher’s cadence about understanding what issues versus what doesn’t: “The disgrace of not figuring out proper from mistaken, of feeling like a psychopath once you’re simply misplaced.” That’s habit talking and Brown calls it out immediately.
By the point you attain “All4U,” with Jane Remover, the album’s thesis crystallises. Is Brown speaking about making it as a rapper or making it via sobriety? Each.
It turns into dialectical: “This rap shit saved my life” turns into literal. Music stuffed the opening that consumption by no means may.
The Polish-language vocals (credited to Ta Ukrainka) on “The Finish” add one other layer: taking a look at childhood images, feeling distant from that particular person you was. Each addict is aware of that feeling – the self you earlier than the illness took maintain.
What stands out on Stardust is the sheer absence of detachment; Brown meets his materials head-on, in full sincerity.
This can be a millennial-rapper (somebody raised on edge-lord humour and disaffected coolness) selecting earnestness at each flip.
No cynicism, no sarcasm, no hiding behind personas past the occasional stylistic aggression.
Simply Danny Brown being weak about restoration, relationships and the saving grace of hip hop itself.
From home pulses to neuro-glitch breaks, the manufacturing on Stardust pulls off a uncommon feat: pushing on the fringes whereas staying inviting.
Holly, Underscores, Jane Remover and Quadeca all dial into Brown’s voice and message, not the opposite method round.
These aren’t simply hyperpop beats with rap slapped over them; they’re tailor-made for his voice and what he’s attempting to say.
Does each observe land completely? Some lyrics get extraordinarily express, notably round intercourse, which won’t be for everybody.
What Brown has finally created here’s a mannequin for a way hip-hop artists can age with out calcifying.
He’s not clinging to previous glory or chasing earlier success. He’s rising, adapting, staying versatile relatively than inflexible.
The alternative of weak point will not be power; it’s flexibility, as a result of age takes power however you possibly can at all times study to stretch.
Stardust stands alongside latest development albums as proof that rap can comprise vulnerability, broad self-examination and genre-defiance.
The style’s emotional vary expands not as a result of artists have gotten “greater than rappers,” however as a result of they’re displaying what rap at all times may comprise.
For anybody fighting habit or figuring out somebody who’s, this album affords one thing real: not options, however solidarity.
Brown will not be preaching from a place of getting figured the whole lot out – he’s documenting the method, the each day work, the gratitude that replaces consumption.
The ultimate observe’s ambiguity, “Didn’t know I may make it right here,” works as each inventive and private triumph.
Brown has made it to sobriety and into this unusual new sound world concurrently, and neither was assured.
The music itself turns into his greater energy, his purpose to remain clear, his contribution to the world.
That is Danny Brown at his most weak and paradoxically his most assured. Stardust doesn’t sound like some other hip-hop file this yr and it doesn’t sound like hyperpop both. It’s one thing actually hybrid, actually new, genuinely shifting.
