Danny Brown Compares Being In The Music Business To Selling Crack

On numerous occasions, Detroit emcee Danny Brown has detailed his drug dealing past, and during an interview with XXL magazine, the XXX rapper says his past is what helped him maneuver his way through the music industry. The Motor City wordsmith even went on to state that he hasn’t learned much from the industry since he’s simply applied what he learned while drug dealing.

“To me it’s no different than when I was selling crack,” said Danny Brown. “If I didn’t sell crack before I’d probably be learning some shit, but to me it’s the exact same shit. So I just applied what I learned then and I use it now.”

In addition to commenting on the music industry, Brown spoke on breaking out of the negativity prominent among those in his hometown and figuring out what it is he wanted to do.

“At that time I was a little impressionable,” said the Old crafter. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but the only reason I did know was I had so many people around me talking negative. I was in a place where nobody had any options so a lot of my friends wanted me to stick around and sell drugs with them.”

Brown’s interview with XXL comes just one day after he previewed his upcoming album, Old during a listening session at the Spotify offices in New York City. The album has already been described as “more mature” by Brown, and the Fool’s Gold Records emcee says he now has more of a worldly perspective when it concerns his music.

“They were just talking about their neighborhoods,” said Brown, while speaking on Nas and Spice 1. “It was like they were just the centerpiece of what was going on around them. It wasn’t like they were just talking about what they were doing, they noticed the world. That’s the same thing I do now.”

On top of next week’s scheduled Old release, Brown will also now be able to tour Canada as part of his “2 High 2 Die” tour. Last month, the rapper was denied entry into the country for reasons unknown, but was let into Toronto this week to perform at his October 1 show. He’s also slated to perform in Montreal this week as part of the tour, which also features Queens’ spitter Action Bronson.

As an artist signed to the A-Trak and Nick Catchdubs-founded Fool’s Gold Records, Danny Brown has gone on to release one studio album while on the label. Titled XXX, the album was initially released as a free download and was later re-released via iTunes. Brown’s time at Fool’s Gold hasn’t quite gone on without a hitch. In August of this year, the rapper criticized the label and even threatened to leak his upcoming album. Brown later stated that he was merely “talking shit’ during his Twitter rant, which targeted the label.

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