Danny Brown unearths the Underground

Detroit-native Danny Brown closed the Schine Underground Wednesday night with a surplus of energy and personality.

After a successful 2013, the sold-out show kicked off "The Old Danny Brown Tour" with the first stop of Brown's first national tour, consisting of twenty-nine shows across the United States.

ZelooperZ, a member of Brown's hip-hop collective Bruiser Brigade, started the night off with a high-energy and provocative five-song set as the crowd filed in. With "Hit A Lick", ZelooperZ expressed his loud, raunchy, and off-beat style that had the crowd both bewildered and rambunctious – setting the tone of the night early. In-house Bruiser Brigade Producer, SKYWLKR, accompanied Zelooperz supplying heavy hitting and dissonant trap instrumentals along with appropriately timed gun blasts, sirens, and AIM message samples.

Photo: Nick Annis

ZelooperZ of BruiserBrigaide opened the show with an energetic performance.

Following the end of Zelooperz's set, SKYWLKR dropped the beat to Brown's "Break It (Go)" and the Dan of the hour finally took the stage.

Danny Brown came out to a cathartic roar from the crowd, donning a loud-patterned silk buttoned shirt and a tint of kelly green in his distinctively wild hairstyle. Throughout the show, Brown danced across the stage and shook hands with the exuberant fans in the front row, consistently greeting the crowd with his distinctive gap-toothed smile. Tongue out and devil horns held high, Brown had the crowd head banging as if it were a metal show.

As one of the most unique artists in recent history, Brown advances with individuality by overstepping boundaries. From song to song, the Fool's Gold label rapper crossed between heavy electronic and classic hip-hop sounds. Rap to Brown is one big drug and alcohol induced party where the whole crowd is invited; indicated by lively performances of crowd-favorites "Smokin & Drinkin," "Kush Coma,"and "Dope Song". The three high-energy hits from his Old (2013) album had fans going lyric-for-lyric with Brown while bobbing in sync.

Brown also faired successful with classics from XXX (2011) such as "Monopoly" and "Lie4". Brown drew one of the most emphatic reactions from the audience during "Blunt After Blunt." Brown repeatedly belted in to the mic, "And I smoke?", while the unified crowd replied with the hook, "blunt after blunt," progressively escalating in volume each time.

The party ended with a bang when Brown closed out his set with "Dip." The lyrics, "When I dip, you dip" had the crowd doing exactly that, jumping collectively to the rhythm with hands high in the air. With what seemed to be the zenith of energy in the crowd all night, Brown left the Schine Underground wanting more.

But unfortunately it was out with the "Old Danny Brown", as he hits the road toward his next tour stop in Burlington, Vermont.