Danny Brown, 826 Chicago - Interview at Pitchfork Festival lyrics

If you had to come up
With a Ben & Jerry’s flavor
What would you put in it?

What would I put in
My Ben & Jerry’s flavor? Damn
That’s kinda tight? I guess it
Would be vanilla and kiwi

Why kiwi?

I don’t know, I just like kiwi, and
It’s like, I don’t find it that much
You know? I have a Filipina
Grandma and she liked
Kiwi a lot so I got it from her

What would you name the flavor then?

I guess I would put
A little caramel in there


Too, though, because I like caramel
But, I don’t know
That’s a good question i guess
It would be "The Hybrid"

If you could make a collaboration
Song with any rapper living or dead
Who would it be?

I guess I would pick a dead one since
That would be cooler mac Dre from Oakland
I like him a lot

I read that you grew up in Detroit
What do you think about Detroit?
Does it influence your music?

The fact was there was
Nothing to do in Detroit
So I had no choice but to stay inside it
Was better to just stay out of trouble and
Stay inside and make music it was
Something to do for fun, it was a
Hobby and now I get paid to do
My hobby that’s the American dream, right?

Who was your favorite artist
When you were first making music?

First it was Nas i always wanted to
Rap like Nas as I got older
It changed as it started
Being about songwriting

What do you demand backstage before a show?

I like sparkling water
Like Perrier i like to keep a lot of
Fruit because I don’t eat that much
Fruit like I’m supposed to
So I figure if I have fruit
Backstage and I get hungry and
There’s nothing else to eat, it’s good to
Force myself to be healthy celery, almonds
And stuff that’ll kill
You, like cigarettes and liquor
But we’ll keep that out
But for the most part fruit, celery, almonds
Perrier

If you could travel back in
Time to meet your 18-year-old self
What would you tell him?

Don’t listen to nobody
But, yourself because that’s
Who ends up being up right at the
End of the day everyone could tell me what
I couldn’t do but no one could
Told me what I could do except myself so
Once I started believing in myself that’s
When stuff started happening, so I would just
Tell myself don’t listen to nobody man
Just listen to yourself

Who do you make music for
Yourself or your fans?

Myself at first, but then I
Started making money off it
So at the end of the day then
I guess it’s a little bit of both
You know? I make music for
Myself but I make it
For people to enjoy it because if
It was just for me
It would be some depressing-type stuff

Do you have any crazy fan stories?
BROWN: I guess not too much
Because I don’t party or hang out that
Much i usually go and do shows
And go back to my hotel room and
Play videogames so I guess the
Craziest stories are people just stalking
Outside my hotel room
I might go out to smoke a cigarette
And have people bum rushing
Me for pictures but
That pretty much it but that’s cool
It comes with the territory

Do you like playing
Inside or outside better?

Inside because if it rains then
What? I’ve played in the
Rain a lot and I don’t
Like playing in the rain
So I’d rather play indoors

Your songs often have a narrative
How much of that is autobiographical?

I’d say 75% sometimes I
Exaggerate stuff for entertainment
Purposes because I like to make people laugh
But for the most part 75%

Do you like writing or performing better?

Writing because it’s the
Beginning stages i’ll
Write a song and I’ll sing
It to myself for a year and
Think they’ll go crazy for this!
Then two years later
I’ll perform it for the crowd and they go
Crazy and I think, I was right!
It’s like a fulfilling feeling
A weird feeling but it’s tight

Do you have a favorite venue?

I like playing in London
I love it out there
The fans are more there for the
Music in America a lot of
The time you’ll do stuff because it's
Cool you’ll come because your
Friends are there, maybe some girl’s
There, but overseas in London
They only go for the music and I like that

If you were deserted on an island
What three things would you want?

Water, Wi-Fi, and a laptop
And I’m gonna get an Uber
To come pick me up! Uber a boat to me
You know?

What’s the coolest thing you’ve
Ever seen at a live show?

I’ve been to a lot of live shows
Man i guess the coolest thing would be
The chance to open up for Eminem and being
Around Eminem i grew up in Detroit
So I looked up to him a lot being able
To see him was a big deal to me