Photo by Colin Kerrigan

In the two years since Danny Brown's breakthrough mixtape, XXX, the Detroit MC has become a ubiquitous figure, a go-to for artists of any stripe-- from A$AP Rocky to Purity Ring to A-Trak-- looking to goose their tracks with an instant spike of adrenaline. And while the self-effacing Brown admits to overextending himself-- "I'm sometimes guilty of rushing through certain feature spots," he tells me-- he's not slowing down. He's set to appear on Schoolboy Q's forthcoming album, and he's clocked in not one but two recording sessions with Australian cut-and-paste enigmas the Avalanches-- though he's as in the dark as the rest of us when it comes to the release of that group's long, long, long-delayed follow-up to 1999's Since I Left You. "I don't know what's up with those guys-- they're very secretive," says Brown. "They treated me great, though."

When I catch up with him on the phone in December, Brown is relaxing in his Detroit home, having just returned from London, where he hung out with Trash Talk and the Streets' Mike Skinner (who he is "a big fan of, obviously"). He's currently wrapping up his next proper full-length, Old, which will see release through Fool's Gold later this year. It's set to feature contributions from A$AP Rocky, Rustie, Schoolboy Q, Kitty, Ab-Soul, Purity Ring, and Oh No, among others. Talking about the record's title, the 32-year-old says, "People are always like, 'Danny, you old', or, 'I liked your old shit better.' I didn't want to just continue where I left off with XXX, because I got a lot of younger fans now that don't know nothing about the hip-hop shit. If people are just looking for dick-sucking jokes, there isn't too many of them."

"I thought that if XXX was my OK Computer,

then I'd have to make my Kid A next."

Pitchfork: XXX sounded very specifically and consciously sequenced to form a narrative, did you approach the making of Old in the same way?

Danny Brown: I always try to act like I'm some old school artist from the 1960s, so I approached this album like I was making it for vinyl: There's a side A and a side B. The way I look at it, I've always been two different artists anyway; I do that underground hip-hop shit and that turned-up trap shit. XXX told a story, so I wanted this one to be like "Curb Your Enthusiasm"-- it's random and all over the place, but by the end it comes together.

Danny Brown: "XXX" (via SoundCloud)

Pitchfork: You've said that while you were making XXX you were listening to a lot of Joy Division. Were there any specific artists you looked to for this album?

DB: I made XXX with the aim of getting great reviews. And when I started making Old, I was trying to think of artists that came back from getting great reviews and made an album that was just as good-- or better! The only group I could really come up with was Radiohead. So if XXX was my OK Computer, then I'd have to make my Kid A next. So I studied Kid A, and I took away that it's not so much about the lyrics as it is about the way the beats feel, so what drives this album is the production. I wanted to have the most amazing beats, but I still want them to sound minimal-- it's still gotta sound like a Danny Brown beat. It can't sound like no fucking Kanye orchestra shit. That ain't me. That's why I took so long with making this album. I was waiting for the perfect beats. And I got 'em.

Pitchfork: Would you consider yourself a perfectionist?

DB: A perfectionist is someone like Dr. Dre or Kanye-- they'll take one song and do 50 takes. I go with my first take for every song. I want to capture a feeling. If I say a word wrong, fuck it. I am a perfectionist as far as listening to it, though. If I'm over a song two weeks after I made it, I'm not going to put it out. It has to last months.

Pitchfork: You're known for your punchlines-- do you worry about not being taken seriously?

DB: You can only go so far with those. I think I'm funny when I'm just talking-- I don't have to make a dick joke to be funny. I might just say something that's not funny to me, but the way it sounded could make a person laugh. It goes along with my vocal range. Anyway, the album is called Old, and I'm 32, so it's time to grow up a little bit.

Danny Brown: "Fields" (via SoundCloud)

Pitchfork: You recently said that Old would be "less funny" than XXX-- but a good deal of XXX isn't very funny.

DB: With XXX, I was trying to make a comedy that also had a lot of drama. This one is just like mad drama [laughs]-- to the point where shit is so fucked up that you need a release. You can't just keep dwelling on how fucked up shit is because that ain't going to do nothing but make you feel depressed, so you gotta just say "fuck it" and take drugs and party.

Photo by Erez Avissar

Pitchfork: Who are some of your favorite rappers out right now?

DB: Kendrick Lamar and everyone from TDE. I love what A$AP Rocky's doing. And, of course, Chief Keef. I listen to him the most. [laughs] I like his older mixtapes a little better though, because old Chief Keef scared me-- I thought he was about to pop up out of nowhere with a hoodie on and shoot me. But I'm not really scared of Finally Rich.

My favorite song of his is "Laughing to the Bank" [laughs]. That's some Sex Pistols-type shit. Remember when everybody said that Odd Future was punk rock? To me, Chief Keef is totally punk rock. Like, the melodies he uses on his album-- it's like he's not even rapping no more, he's just singing. You could swap those synths and keyboards with guitars and fucking crazy drums and he'll be a rock star.

The Alchemist: "Flight Confirmation" [ft. Danny Brown and Schoolboy Q] (via SoundCloud)

Pitchfork: You once tweeted that "Black Hippy are the new Beatles and I'm Harry Nilsson." How would you match up the Beatles to the Black Hippy crew?

DB: Kendrick would be Paul McCartney, Schoolboy Q would be John Lennon, Ab-Soul would be George Harrison-- and [laughs] Jay Rock would be Ringo. I'm like the unofficial fifth member of Black Hippy.

Pitchfork: You seem to be everywhere all the time-- do you ever worry about overexposure?

DB: No, because I don't really feel famous. I'm just an internet guy. I walk down the street and people don't really mess with me too much. I still have my life.

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Pitchfork: Are there any downsides to being on the road so much?

DB: I mean, while you're touring, you can't take a shit on a bus. [laughs] But there's no downside to traveling the world and making money. I'm doing something I love. A lot of people have sucky jobs, but I have a good one, and I'm not trying to lose it any time soon. This was one of the best years of my life.

Danny Brown / AraabMuzik: "Molly Ringwald" (via SoundCloud)

Pitchfork: Your music talks a lot about various illicit substances-- are you using any particular drugs regularly?

DB: I'm not experimenting too much now. I've been smoking more weed because I've been making more money, but I calmed down on the molly. That's a party thing. But when I'm on the road, I'm going to fuck around with some molly. When I'm at home and working, I'm doing Adderall. Right now, my drug of choice is lean. I've been smoking a lot of weed, sipping a lot of lean, and falling asleep every day at five o'clock in the afternoon. [laughs]

Pitchfork: Lean can be a dangerous substance to mess around with.

DB: Nah. I look at it like this: I never was a crazy liquor drinker, and I don't like beer that much-- though I keep the brews at home because my homies love beer. But I drink a shit ton of soda-- soda has ran my life. It's probably the worst thing for me, more so than any drug. Anytime I can get blowed off soda, it's tight. And it tastes amazing! [laughs]

I've learned and tested myself, and lean is not something you overdo. A lot of people who died were drinking liquor with lean, which you just don't do. That's the ultimate rule. Another thing: You hear rappers talk about how they "pouring up fo's," but you can't sit around and do that. That's just rapper shit, like if a rapper says he's smoking the best weed in the world, you know he's probably smoking some dirt weed. No one's pouring up no fo's; I got enough to pour that, but I just be pouring ones, and the one lasts me the whole day.