Photo Credit: April Siese

Rapper Danny Brown, who for a while has seemed to be hinting at a new studio project, XXXX, after a mysterious message back in October of 2020 where Brown tweeted “XXXX”. This prospective project title was in reference to the rapper’s 2011 breakthrough album, XXX, which played as a double entendre and pun to Brown being 30 years old at the time. Due to the enigmatic nature of Brown that fans know and appreciate, a cryptic hint for new work from the artist wouldn’t be the most unexpected rollout from Detroit rapper. However, almost 3 years later it seemed that the teased album was a hoax or another display of a social media message getting taken out of context by fans.

In a recent episode of the rapper’s YouTube podcast, The Danny Brown Show, it is revealed that Brown was in fact teasing an upcoming project to follow his 2019 album, uknowhatimsayin¿. Brown detailed that he did turn in an album titled, Quaranta, two years ago but his record label, Warp Records, and his manager, Dart Parker are keeping him in the dark about its release. Further alleging that his label is upset about his recent release, Scaring The Hoes, alongside rapper JPEGMAFIA.

Brown believes there is an effort with those in charge of his career to drain him until he is broke to make him desperate enough to do whatever the label wants. Then instructing his fans to harass Warp and Parker on social media with the hashtags #FreeDanny and #FreeQuaranta. Brown wouldn’t be the first artist to experience strict label control as this phenomenon has been seen with artists such as Tinashe, SZA, Normani, etc. who have all been on the receiving end of albums being held up due to label drama.