Released: 2023

Genres: Conscious Hip-Hop, Hardcore Hip-Hop

The Musiquarium’s Quaranta Review Score: 8 out of 10

By the time Danny Brown released his breakthrough album XXX in 2011, he was already thirty, which was relatively late for a rapper. Most rappers who make it into the big leagues skip the growing pains that most of us face in our 20s, such as working shitty and often degrading jobs, struggling to pay rent, going into debt to further our educations or in Danny Brown’s case, being a small time drug dealer.

Quaranta is Italian for forty and has Brown looking back on the past decade of his life — a decade where he had risen to the top and became one of the most acclaimed and experimental rappers of the 2010s. Danny Brown has gone on to say that this is his most personal record yet, exploring drug addiction-induced rock bottom and coming back from all of that. Did he think he’d still be relevant a decade later? Did he think he’d have OD’d by now? Regardless, between this and the same year’s collab with JPEGMAFIA, SCARING THE HOES, it’s probably safe to say that Danny Brown isn’t going anywhere any time soon.

The Alchemist-produced lead single Tantor is an elephantine beast of a song and one of his best singles yet. Down Wit It shows a vulnerable side of Brown, and deals with a loss of love. Jenn’s Terrific Vacation is a jazzy affair. Ain’t My Concern recalls some of the darkness of his magnum opus, Atrocity Exhibition.

Along with the aforementioned collaboration album from earlier this year, 2023 was definitely a high point in the career of Danny Brown and Quaranta is one of his best albums yet.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Danny Brown on Discogs.

Back to the 2023 Album Guide or the Danny Brown Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard