Atrocity Exhibition

Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
Critic Score
Based on 36 reviews
2016 Ratings: #28 / 1004
Year End Rank: #15
User Score
2016 Rank: #1All Time: #49
Liked by 2,152 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Guardian
The snaggle-toothed Detroit rapper has previously dabbled in grime, ghettotech and other esoteric styles, but his new LP goes further still – sketching out uncharted territory for hip-hop with the gonzo penmanship of Robert Crumb or Ralph Steadman.
94
GIGsoup

By steering away from many of the conventions of contemporary rap and hip hop, Brown hasn’t just made one of the best albums of the year, but one of the most exhilaratingly original hip hop albums in recent memory.

91
Pretty Much Amazing
The raps are at a peak there, but it’s the beats on the album that you consistently sink your ears into.
90
The Needle Drop
Danny Brown returns with one of the wildest hip hop albums ever recorded.
90
FasterLouder

On his fourth album, Atrocity Exhibition, Brown reigns things in: there are less straight up bangers on this album than on XXX or Old, but it’s altogether dirtier and darker than either of those. Danny Brown’s coke dreams are turning into nightmares.

90
Sputnikmusic

Atrocity Exhibition is the Danny Brown we know and love, but even though his attitude and perspective remain largely the same as it ever was, he’s made room for further growth and corruption.

90
AllMusic

Atrocity Exhibition is Danny Brown at his least diluted, almost unrelentingly grim and completely engrossing.

90
PopMatters

Atrocity Exhibition is Danny Brown’s greatest musical achievement thus far because the Detroit native not only elevated his lyricism, but also complimented said lyricism with atmospheric production and distinct flows that accentuate everything he’s saying.

90
Mixmag
A thematic sequel to 2011 breakout mixtape ‘XXX’, Danny Brown remains rap’s most unique force.
85
Spectrum Culture

It’s unsettling, affecting and compelling in a way that few pieces of music have been this year.

85
The Line of Best Fit

Rich, deep, full of wit, rapid fire lyrics and fantastically unusual production, it’s Danny Brown proving yet again that he is one of the most exciting rappers working right now.

85
XLR8R

That Atrocity Exhibition sounds like neither backpack rap, hipster drivel nor dull trap, but something fresh that stands on its own is itself to be applauded. But that it’s so damn good too puts it among the best hip-hop albums in years.

85
Pitchfork

No matter what's going on with the music, Brown’s acute emotional writing is once again on full display. Where XXX seemed to promise a way out, Old reflected (and sometimes reveled in) the lifestyle afforded him through his breakout success. This record, as dark, dingy, and uncomfortable as it is, continues to suggest something deeper is haunting Brown.

83
Consequence of Sound
These songs aren’t for everyone, but they stand as some of the most fearlessly created music of the year.
80
The Observer

Normally you’d change carriages to avoid someone sounding this unhinged, but the 15 dosages Brown dispenses here are worryingly addictive.

80
Slant Magazine

Atrocity Exhibition offers dementedly, nihilistically danceable music.

80
FLOOD Magazine

It’s a harsh, machete-sharp, dissonant sound and scabrous vision at work on Atrocity Exhibition, yet one geared for entertainment—gleeful arts and farts—rather than just morose, soul-searching evisceration.

80
NOW Magazine
Working mainly with producer Paul White, Brown has crafted his most vividly emotional, demented and personal album. His flows are as manic and snarling as ever, but as he raps about gobbling drugs, he is voraciously devouring genres.
80
Mojo

If not every experiment works, Brown's twinkling hook-up with Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Earl Sweatshirt on Really Doe totally surpasses its billing.

80
Uncut

Even as Atrocity Exhibition plumbs depths, Brown remains a savvy operator.

80
Q Magazine

The oddball rapper with the humdrum name is carving out a space all of his own.

80
Clash
Danny Brown casts off the more user-friendly EDM touches that brought his previous effort ‘Old’ some mainstream attention in 2013, and drags his fourth LP ‘Atrocity Exhibition’ into an altogether murkier zone – both sonically and thematically.
80
Loud and Quiet

With ‘Atrocity Exhibition,’ Danny Brown cements himself as a hip-hop great.

80
Rolling Stone

While Atrocity Exhibition is stuffed like a piñata with colorful addictions ... its also teeming with the isolation, paranoia and regrets you could expect from a rap album named after a Joy Division song. 

80
Exclaim!

On Atrocity Exhibition, Danny Brown is better than he's ever been.

80
The Skinny

Hard rhymes, hard beats and a metallic self-scrutiny see Danny Brown make astute decisions, and reap all that he deserves.

80
DIY

Exuding confidence at every turn, his ability to wrangle any sound into his warped world of hip hop is exhilarating.

80
The 405

Brown has finally found a sonic backdoor into the A list rap career he's been destined for by huddling amongst the sharp genre-bending, sampled scraps of his own mental demise and the backing of his new eclectic label.

80
musicOMH

The whole of Atrocity Exhibition takes Brown’s craft to a new level, even if his delivery occasionally grates. It’s by far the best thing he’s released and confirms his arrival among the rap elite.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes
Danny Brown’s gift is that he imbues these barbaric tales with pathos and humor, burning his existence into the rap firmament, always and forever the “murder music orchestrator”.
80
Drowned in Sound

Atrocity Exhibition isn't quite as breathtakingly brilliant as XXX was and will probably alienate some of the fans that Old gained him, but it's basically just a good Danny Brown album. 

78
Resident Advisor

Atrocity Exhibition arrives as a dark, boom-bap document of the MC's odyssey, as well as an incisive commentary on the perils of fame.

78
HipHopDX

Although the unconventional song structures and ostensibly clashing influences may create an unsettling experience for some, this is Hip Hop’s most sonically focused project since Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly.

60
XXL

Atrocity Exhibition gets props for being not only creative and ominously expressive but moving anyone out of their comfort zone.

60
Crack Magazine

Unfortunately for those who value Brown as a lyricist, the rapping isn’t as fascinating as the music.

60
The Independent

This fourth album is produced by south London’s Paul White, and a shared taste for Talking Heads and especially Joy Division takes it way off the mainstream hip-hop map.

Aoaystheory
96

Take that "Guy that Keeps Telling Everybody New Hip-Hop is Garbage."

Craigold
100

Sorry I've been gone recently, I was just dealing some drugs, but I have a story to tell about it. I was in an alleyway, cooking up my all-purpose flour, as you do, when an oily police man hollered at me. I glanced at him, and returned to my work. He shuffled his way through the trash bags and needles, and stood next to me. I didn't like how he was intruding on my space, so I asked him to shove off. He replied with, "Can I have some of that?" which confused me, I don't know what use ... read more

barcooper
100

Rereviewing one of my favorite albums of all time to celebrate 500 BASED FOLLOWERS!!🥳🥳🥳
(My longest review ever yayyy)

First of all I want to thank yall for that crazy number, I have no idea how to express how thankful I am, If I could’ve suck every single one of you I swear to god I would! There are so many amazing people on this site And I’m grateful I have joined it and had the opportunity to communicate with yall, And express the love for my biggest passion in life, ... read more

Bumpy
100

the production sounds like what danny is storytelling about

XCellent
95

best music to get high too

alexeyglukhov
77

a 77 is what i give this album.

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Track List

1Downward Spiral
2:52
91
2Tell Me What I Don't Know
2:31
93
3Rolling Stone
3:47
92
4Really Doe
5:19
97
5Lost
2:07
93
6Ain't It Funny
2:57
98
7Goldust
2:24
93
8White Lines
2:23
91
9Pneumonia
3:39
93
10Dance in the Water
2:37
93
11From the Ground
2:18
feat. Kelela
89
12When It Rain
3:15
96
13Today
3:07
90
14Get Hi
3:33
feat. B-Real
86
15Hell for It
3:49
92
Total Length: 46 minutes
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Added on: August 16, 2016