Rapper Danny Brown thrives on the unconventional. When you name an album off a track off Joy Division’s 1980 classic post-punk masterwork Closer and you’re already known for putting out some of the best hip-hop albums of the last decade+ (2011’s XXX in particular), do you really have anything left to prove as far as your ambition goes? Unlikely.
As we’ve seen with the likes of Denzel Curry tackling the classic “Bulls On Parade”, though, it’s not a surprise to find out that your favorite rappers and hip-hop stars may indeed like some of the same heavy music you do. Crazy, we know. It is neat, however, to see someone like Danny Brown paying tribute to Korn – specifically their 1998 megahit “Freak On A Leash”. As the rapper was a teenager when the song (and Follow The Leader) dropped, he recently paid tribute to it at a recent show.
And unlike other media outlets and tabloids (that don’t seem to follow hip-hop/rap) who chose to disparage the cover, you can tell Danny Brown is having a lot of fun with it. Whether or not the execution is on point is obviously up for debate, but nonetheless, anytime the worlds of hip-hop and metal can crosspollinate is a positive thing.
