Ahead of his European tour, Detroit rapper Danny Brown released the video for his single, “3 Tearz,” with Run the Jewels, off his latest album uknowhatimsayin¿. The Q-Tip produced album was released last fall to critical acclaim. In a previous interview, Brown credited Q-Tip with forming his album’s new sound into the a direction that follows more of a hardcore hip hop style from the 1990s, which makes sense given this was first time Q-Tip executive produced an album since Mobb Deep’s The Infamous in 1995.
The surveillance-looking video, directed by skate-turned-music video director Colin Read, features Brown and RTJ’s El-P, and Killer Mike in a Brooklyn warehouse full of fans wielding various cameras. With the track’s old-school hip-hip beat and underneath each rapper’s verse, the video cuts between shots from the various cameras in the crowd, some of which shoot like they’re straight out of the ’90s.
The song itself features all three rappers dropping references to classic rappers, with Brown rapping “It was written, but the signature not legible (Nah),” in reference to Nas, El-P rapping “True doom, eat up your crew, like MM… FOOD” in reference to MF Doom, and Killer Mike rapping “I’m a P-I-M-P in my own rhyme,” in reference to 8Ball and MJG.
In addition to his most recent album receiving critical success, Brown also received headlines for his part in the recent Gorillaz documentary, Gorillaz: Reject False Icons, which documents the recording of the group’s two most recent albums, Humanz and The Now Now. Brown collaborated on the song “Submission” off 2017’s Humanz.
Brown’s tour kicks off March 23, in Stockholm.
03/23 – Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser Hornstulls Strand
03/24 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Pumpehuset
03/26 – Berlin, Germany – Bi Nuu
03/29 – Brussels, Belgium – Le Botanique
03/30 – Paris, France – Le Trabendo
04/01 – Dublin, Ireland – The Academy
04/03 – Bristol, UK – Trinity Center
04/06 – London, UK – Village Underground
04/07 – Brighton, UK – Concorde 2
Tickets can be purchased here.
Photo Credit: Richard Saethang