Danny Brown: 2 October 2014 – New York (Photos)

After spending summer playing festivals, Danny Brown has beens holed up working on a new record. But that didn't stop him from doing three NYC shows including one at the tiny Sonos Studio.

Sachyn Mital / 7 October 2014

Last week, Sonos Studio and Pandora presents arranged for pop-up event space at the NeueHouse in New York to feature over a dozen free events and performances (including free booze) for small audiences. Spoon introduced a collaborative art project, Best Coast, Mikky Ekko and The Skins all performed as well as Dev Hynes but he also participated in a Q&A session. On Thursday evening, the “headliner” was Fool’s Gold rapper Danny Brown, who was performing two other shows in New York the same week at Webster Hall and House of Vans, both larger venues. He had spent his summer touring and performing at festivals (including a massive gig at Wembley opening for fellow Detroit resident Eminem).

Given that this particular show was very intimate and free, it would be impossible to complain about the length (approximately 45 minutes) even had he not played a set chock full of hits. Brown essentially had the crowd eating from the palms of his hands as he ferociously tore through songs like “Express Yourself”, “Handstand”, “Smokin and Drinkin” and the drug-loving “Dip”. The beats were hard and heavy and the electronic squiggles wormed their way into heads sending the crowd into a wild dance with Brown ruling over them in his rockstar pose, devil horned hands and tongue dropping low. It was a great great way to catch the rapidly rising rapper.