Image via Complex Original
This feature is a part of Complex's Danny Brown Week.
Danny Brown knows Detroit. Its idiosyncracies are not lost on the rapper, who has both a deep affection for the Motor City and such a clear view of its shortcomings that he cannot overlook them.
"Home is irreplaceable at the end of the day because it’s home," says Brown. "I’ve been around the world. Detroit is not the most beautiful place, but I have to love it because I’m still coming back home to it."
Brown's refusal to adhere to the status quo, a philosophy that informs his genre-defying music, allows him to appreciate his home without being limited by it. We asked him to share his thoughts on Detroit's decline and how the fallen city can rise. He did that and more, giving us a virtual tour of his Motor City staples. "Detroit is cheap man," Brown says. "You can ball out here. Ain’t nobody got nothing. So if you got a little something, you got everything."
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On Growing Up in Detroit
Danny Brown: "I just knew I had to get out of Detroit. You know? There is no outlet. Maybe that's a big deal that needs to be preached, too. Rap music has things like ‘rep your hood’ or ‘you ain’t hot unless you’re hot in your hood' type of deal. The hood never really related to what I was doing in general. So I knew they wouldn’t get my music. I was always different, you know?"
On Getting Turnt Up in Detroit
Danny Brown: "I’m 32 years old. Turning up in Detroit will get you shot at night. I’m a rapper, people see me on TV. Somebody might want to make a WorldStar video out of me. Where I live, we just went bankrupt. We don’t have money. A lot of people are probably jealous of my situation, the last thing they probably want to do is see my face. So why would I give them the opportunity, you know? So ain’t no turning up in Detroit. Like I go out of town a lot, so I’ll have fun when I do my shows."
On Detroit's Decline
Danny Brown: "If you listen to my music, I’ve been talking about it for years. A lot of people have been saying something else. Tell Big Sean to help us. Big Sean got the guap. Tell Big Sean to unbankrupt Detroit. I’ve been telling people we’ve been broke forever. I haven’t been telling them we’ve been ballin’ and having fun. I’ve been telling people we need help."
On Detroit's Youth, and Being a Role Model
Danny Brown: "I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like I’m showing them [a better way]. I mean just to say take your matters into your own hands. I’m not on some big major label. I’m not like on the radio 100 times a day, and nobody’s paying money for me to be here. It’s just me making music to be true to myself. If you do that with those intentions, if you just do what you want to do and stay true to it, no matter how long it might take, you’re going to see some type of reward from it."
"Everybody ain’t a rapper—they need to teach that, too. That ain’t just the only way to get out the hood. When I was a little kid and they asked you what you wanted to be when you grow up, everybody said basketball players and football players. Nobody said rappers. I got laughed at when I said I wanted to be a rapper. You know? But now the whole classroom would probably say a rapper. We need to change that. And give them more realistic goals, and better goals, because at the end of the day rapping ain’t the job."
"In general they should look at even someone like Chief Keef. Don’t look at his words, look at his actions. He worked hard to get where he’s at. He shot a lot of videos. He’s doing something productive with his time more so than just being in the streets. You can’t be in the streets that much if you made all them songs and did all them videos. Nope. I think he’s someone inspiring for kids. A year ago he was just making videos in his living room. So, it could happen."
On the Possibility of Detroit's Revival
Danny Brown: "I think we need to change the structure of the thinking process of the next generation coming up. It can’t start with the adults, now we just have to start with the kids now and try to make sure there is other shit for kids to do. I think we need create community centers and things for kids to do so they won’t be in trouble because that’s who is making all the trouble. That’s who is shooting people. That’s who is out here wildin' out—the kids."
"The adults we already sacred. We been to jail, we know the consequences for being in the streets. We’re in the house, not really teaching them, and letting them run crazy. I think we just need something that starts with the kids right now. We need to figure out some type of way to help the kids. Give them something to do with their time so they don’t be in the streets.”
St. Andrew's Hall
Neighborhood: Bricktown
Address: 431 E Congress St.
Website: saintandrewsdetroit.com
Danny Brown: "[St Andrew's is] famous from the movie 8 Mile—three floors of fun is what they use to call it. The basement level is the shelter where most local shows happen and where most of us Detroit artists got our stage performance game up."
Coney Island
Neighborhood: Varies
Address: Restaurants throughout Michigan
Website: N/A
Danny Brown: "Coney Island is pretty much our staple restaurant. You can find one on almost every other corner here, and their main dish is chilli gogs and chilli fries. The two most popular ones located downtown are Lafeyette and American located right next door to each other. A lot of people prefer Lafeyette, but me—I don't care. It's cheap food anyway, Lafayette be too crowded sometimes so I can admit I be playing both sides."
The Majestic Theatre/Magic Stick/Garden Bowl
Neighborhood: Midtown
Address: 4120 Woodward Ave.
Website: majesticdetroit.com
Danny Brown: "This is pretty much a venue, bowling alley, and pool hall. It's a place where I performed a lot and mostly indie artists and bands come to play. I used to love just hanging out in front of it on a Saturday night trying to pick up the 'lil indie hipster college girls that frequent the place."
Bronx Bar
Neighborhood: Midtown
Address: 4476 2nd Ave.
Website: N/A
Danny Brown: "My favorite bar. They have the best onion rings I have ever had in my life, a stockpiled jukebox, and Cheers-like service. I always visit there for a burger and a beer when I'm home. Everybody there knows me, so ain’t nobody there trying to fuck with me or do nothing, you know?"
Greektown
Address: Monroe Ave. btwn, Brush and St. Antoine St.
Danny Brown: "I used to love going down here as a kid and playing video games at Trapper's Alley. Now it has a casino and a lot restaurants; it's a tight little date spot. It's always cracking down there."
Hart Plaza
Neighborhood: Midtown
Address: 1 Hart Plaza
Website: N/A
Danny Brown: "Pretty much where the Detroit Electronic Music Festival happens, [this is] my actual favorite thing to do in Detroit but I haven't [went] in a few years 'cause I been on the road. Most of out festivals happen here and it's pretty much the heart of downtown."
Funk Night
Address: A new location in Detroit each month
Danny Brown: "Funk Night is a ongoing monthly ran by Frank Raines, a vinyl enthusiast who rents out these big warehouses. The house band Will Sessions plays and Frank and whatever DJ that's there for the month spins 45s. I swear it's crazy seeing 19-year-old girls dancing to music twice they age."
Belle Isle Park
Address: 6925 E Jefferson Ave.
Website: detroitmi.gov
Danny Brown: "An island right in the middle of Detroit and Windsor Canada. In the summertime you gotta take a nice old school bike or a nice car [and] you go down there and hangout. It's like that spot where you have family reunions at and shit, but there are always girls down there."
Revive
Address: 154 W Maple Rd.; Birmingham, Mich.
Website: revivemi.com
Danny Brown: "[Revive is] not actually located in Detroit, but it's the only place I shop here. Everything pretty much closed down and no malls are in the city. Revive been around for a minute and they're the spot that has consistently brought streetwear and high-end shit that I can't find anywhere in the city."
Mudgie's
Neighborhood: Corktown
Address: 1300 Porter St.
Website: mudgiesdeli.com
Danny Brown: "Mudgie's in Corktown is my favorite sandwich spot in the D, a house turned into a restaurant that has a real home cooking type of feel. It's my favorite place to eat in Detroit. It’s usually so packed that it takes all fucking day to get a sandwich. But if I can get one, I go. Or if somebody comes with some or if I’m doing an interview and they want to take me out to eat."