Quaranta is the sixth studio album by American rapper Danny Brown, released on November 17, 2023, by Warp Records. It is Brown's solo follow-up to 2019's "U Know What I'm Sayin?", and his second album of 2023 following his collaboration with JPEGMafia, "Scaring the Hoes". The album includes collaborations with Bruiser Wolf, Kassa Overall and Mike, and was preceded by the lead single "Tantor".
Background.
Brown first teased the album in October 2020 when he shared a clip of music with the caption "XXXX". He later clarified it was titled "Quaranta" and not "40". The title means "40" in Italian, and has been described as a "spiritual bookend" to Brown's 2011 album "XXX". Brown worked with producers including the Alchemist, Quelle Chris, Skywlkr and Paul White on the album.
Brown has called it his "most personal" album, on which he "explor[es] his experiences with pain, isolation, and hitting rock bottom". He called it his "way of getting shit out" after spending time in rehab to recover from drug and alcohol addiction, and explained that "it was almost like, if I died, this is what I have to say".
Critical reception.
"Quaranta" received a score of 82 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 16 critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Editors at "Stereogum" chose this for Album of the Week, with critic Tom Breihan writing that "if you listen to the last five Danny Brown albums in sequence, it sounds like an absolute model of graceful aging within rap [...] so "Quaranta" feels like a time-capsule portrait of a great rapper teetering on the edge of oblivion" and he considered it "expansive enough to get lost in". "Exclaim!"'s Nicholas Sokic wrote that "Brown brings a depth of introspection—and a healthy dose of friction—to the well-worn idea" of "music-as-lifeline", which Sokic felt allows Brown to "min[e] an autobiographical clarity not present to the same degree in previous projects", remarking that he is "just a little less wild and a whole lot wiser" and "better for it".
Reviewing the album for "Rolling Stone", Mosi Reeves stated that the "last five songs on "Quaranta" feel like a AAA ("sic") session defined by confessions and naked vulnerability", concluding that it is "no matter if his fans embrace this newly restrained alt-rap hero or not," as "it's better to be alive and underrated than glorified and dead". Mehan Jayasuriya of "Pitchfork" found that "on the more diaristic songs, the narratives aren't as vivid, the rapping isn't as nimble, and the songs lack momentum" and its "bright spots aren't enough to lift the album out of its dour funk. Growth can be awkward, and for better or worse, "Quaranta" feels like an apt reflection of this process". Assessing the album for AllMusic, Fred Thomas concluded that, "It's not entirely the same rowdy, lascivious joyriding that made up some of his celebrated early work, but the album's fearless expression of a full emotional spectrum makes it remarkable and at times shatteringly beautiful."
Track listing.
Notes
References.
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