Danny Brown

With his broken front teeth, scruffy hair, and hazy delivery, Danny Brown's wild tales made him an outcast to mainstream hip-hop's slick, macho superstars, but caused him to be hailed as Eminem's natural successor as the voice of Detroit rap. Born Daniel Dewan Sewell on 16 March 1981 in Detroit, Michigan, the son of a house DJ, Danny Brown was imprisoned for drug dealing but, after being released from prison in 2007, started taking his music more seriously. Rejected from a deal with 50 Cent's G-Unit Records because he didn't look or sound mainstream, his Detroit State Of Mind mixtapes led to the independent albums The Hybrid (2010) and XXX (2011) and his experimental style gained a cult following. His single "Grown Up" was one of the standout tracks of 2012 and he won recognition alongside A$AP Rocky and Tyler the Creator as part of an exciting new generation of independent rap stars. His breakthrough came with the album Old (2013) featuring Schoolboy Q, Purity Ring and Scrufizzer, which reached number 18 in the US Charts. In 2015 he announced he was working on new material for an album and also on a Dr. Seuss-inspired book for children. Atrocity Exhibition was released in 2016 and won him the Album Of The Year Award from the Independent Music Companies Association. His fifth studio album U Know What I'm Sayin? (stylised as uknowhatimsayin¿) was released by Warp Records in 2019 with guest appearances from Run the Jewels, Obongjayar, JPEGMafia and Blood Orange. He returned four years later with his candid sixth album Quaranta, which featured production assistance from the Alchemist, Quelle Chris, Skywlkr, and Paul White.