GROWING UP –
Oct. 27, 2025 – The 44-year-old rapper changes his stripes with every album. But his latest record is his first time ever doing it sober, with help from surprising new friends. The wisecracking breakthrough XXX brought his devious cackle to worldwide attention in 201. His new album, Stardust, goes on yet another new sonic journey. While some of Brown’s most well-known songs include “Blunt After Blunt,” “Kush Coma,” and “Smokin & Drinkin,” Danny Brown has changed his tune. In March 2023, Brown worked with MusiCares to find a rehab center, and has been sober since. Where he previously boasted of wanting to “party like Chris Farley” on XXX’s “Die Like a Rockstar,” maturity has a way of changing that outlook. Stardust is the artistic rebirth of a man determined to live, having vanquished major demons.
Brown’s conscious of the perception that sobriety has historically led to boring music; no one could accuse Stardust of that, though. The album is the most danceable, colorful, highest-bpm Danny Brown release to date, with assists from stars of the hyperpop scene such as Jane Remover, Frost Children, underscores, and Femtanyl (the latter two will join Brown on tour). But once again, he’s managed to take his sound in a whole new direction bursting with ideas and energy. And he’s cool with other people getting trashed to it.
“Just because I’m sober now doesn’t mean people in the crowd are. So I can’t tell them not to have a good time,” Brown says with a giggle. “I’m the one that’s 44 years old.”
