On Wednesday, October 26th, Danny Brown brought his special mix of lyrical wittiness and delightfully ignorant party music to Exit/In, one of Nashville’s smaller, intimate music venues. Touring to support his latest 2016 album Atrocity Exhibition, Danny lived up to his reputation as a towering presence on the stage.

Danny brought with him two artists from his Bruise Brigade hip-hop collective to open for him: Detroit rappers Zelooperz and Maxo Kream. Both acts ended up putting on a fairly tepid show, as they each merely sounded like a discount Danny Brown.

Nevertheless, they got the crowd moving, and everyone was ready for the headliner to take the stage. Danny’s DJ kicked it off by playing the song “Atrocity Exhibition,” the 1980 Joy Division song that inspired the title of his new album. Anticipation was high until Danny finally took the stage, sporting leather and a Dolly Parton t-shirt.  

The set began with several songs off of his debut studio album, XXX. Ear drums already began to ring as Danny rapped the first bars of “Die Like a Rockstar”: “Brown bless the mic like gesundheit!” He followed this track up with the similarly energetic tracks “Lie4,” “I Will,” and “Monopoly.”

As Danny rapped, he made sure to really react with the loyal fans up front. He exchanged several handshakes and high fives with the microphone up to his mouth as he continued into songs from his second album, Old, including “Dip” and “25 Bucks.” Finally, songs from Atrocity Exhibition closed the show. He had the whole crowd singing along to the album’s four singles: “Really Doe,” “When It Rain,” “Dance in the Water,” and last but not least “Pneumonia.”

The show’s setlist was a perfect illustration of Danny’s evolution as both a talented lyricist and as an entertainer. Playing songs in mostly chronological order was a unique choice that made sense, although I would have prefered to have heard more than four songs from his new album. Nevertheless, it was a memorable experience that further cements Danny Brown’s reputation as one of this generation’s greatest rappers.