Danny Is Dead

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Danny Is Dead
Studio album by Danny!
Released	July 16, 2007 (U.K.) July 17, 2007 (U.S.) August 6, 2007 (Japan)
Recorded	May 2007
Genre	Hip-Hop
Length	30:00
Label	Badenov Records/1911 Music
Producer	Danny!
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Okayplayer link PopMatters link Stylus Magazine (B+) link
Danny! chronology
Dream, Fulfilled (2007) Danny Is Dead (2007) 21st Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of Danny! (2007)

Danny Is Dead, the fourth studio album and sixth release from American rapper/producer Danny!, is a half-hour long EP that was released July 17, 2007 (see 2007 in music) on Danny's 1911 Music/Badenov Records vanity label. The eight-song record is the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed 2006 album Charm and comprised primarily of reduxes from Charm's standout tracks (namely, "Now You're Gone", "Cafe Surreal" and "Fly"). Danny Is Dead was noted not only for its brevity, but for its release in the wake of Danny's much-publicized "retirement" and subsequent un-"retirement" after receiving a record deal with independent label Definitive Jux.

Both the title and its deviating musical direction was, according to Danny, inspired by the De La Soul album De La Soul Is Dead^[1]. The record was released barely two months after Danny's initial announcement of the project, which was apparently in progress at the time. News of the EP was originally posted in his MySpace blog and later by Definitive Jux on their website (via Danny's artist profile page); in his announcement, Danny revealed that his decision to record and release a new album was spurred by an alleged onslaught of e-mail messages from fans inquiring about future material. With Def Jux negotiations still underway^[2], Danny was not bound by any contractual obligations at the time and was therefore free to self-release additional material.

Like all of the titles in Danny's catalogue (except Charm), production on Danny Is Dead was helmed solely by Danny himself. There are also no guest appearances or features on the album, making Danny Is Dead the first record since Danny's debut, The College Kicked-Out, to be a completely solo effort. The cover art, however, was designed by colleague and friend Branden M. Collins; previously, Danny had designed all of his album covers himself.

[edit] Overview

Danny Is Dead opens with the last two bars of "Now You're Gone" from Charm, followed by an intensified re-usage of the same sample used in that song: "Since I Fell For You" by 70s soul singer Laura Lee. Following the energetic intro, the remainder of the album expands on the sound predominant on Charm, but -- either despite its conciseness or because of it -- lacks the cohesiveness of its predecessor. Clocking in at exactly thirty minutes the EP incorporates elements of soul, bossa nova and fusion jazz, making it a far more musical album than any of Danny's previous efforts, including Charm. Danny's new direction has been lauded for being a significant departure from the sped-up soul samples used prominently on The College Kicked-Out and F.O.O.D.

Once again assuming the role of MC and producer throughout Danny Is Dead's entirety, Danny manages to infuse elements of separate personas found on all three of his previous solo albums. The sarcastic side, heard first on Danny's second album F.O.O.D., makes several appearances during "Press Conference". During a line in which Danny downplays a once-potential artist management deal that had gone sour, he claims "...[it] ain't like I'm what the game's been missin' / Booth attacker, wack producer-rapper / Slash attempted-hacker / Nah, I wouldn't have sold." The "hacker" line is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the 2003 allegations that led to an expulsion from his previous school and, eventually, the title of his debut album. Other songs like "Rhyme Writer Crime Fighter" showcase a playfulness not seen since 2004's The College Kicked-Out, while tracks like "Fly, Pt. 2" and "The World Is Yours" build upon the introspective, self-aware lyrics that took center stage on Charm.

The US version of Danny Is Dead closes with a once-mysterious instrumental at the end of "Outro (Dead...?)", later revealed as being titled "Ebony Flower". It is still unclear, however, whether "Ebony Flower" is an outtake from either of Danny's instrumental albums or a track made specifically for Danny Is Dead.

[edit] Development

Danny shocked the underground hip-hop community after announcing that his breakthrough third album, Charm, would be his last and that he had no plans of releasing any more music commercially. Allegedly Danny never expected Charm, which landed on the 49th Annual Grammy Awards shortlist and was regarded by many as one of the best hip-hop releases of 2006, to generate the buzz that it did and had thus admitted defeat just as the record began to take off. In early 2007, shortly after releasing an instrumental album in limited quantities titled Dream, Interrupted, Danny won an MTVu-sponsored talent contest and scored a recording contract with Definitive Jux Records.

Due to a reported stagnancy in the legal process of signing his contract (not unlike any new artist who signs to a record label for the first time), Danny was unable to reap the benefits of a record deal immediately. Just when it seemed as if he would not be releasing any new material in 2007 -- except for his second, and equally difficult to obtain, instrumental album Dream, Fulfilled -- Danny surprised many when he announced that Danny Is Dead would be the name of his new self-released album.

Speculation quickly arose and it was rumored that Danny had either turned the Def Jux deal down, grown impatient from months of waiting to hear from the label, or that the MTVu/Def Jux contest was a hoax and that neither party planned to ever deliver on the contest winnings (similar in fashion to setbacks encountered early in the career of fellow rappers Joell Ortiz and Wreckonize). Danny shot down all the rumors and, in his MySpace blog, insisted that Danny Is Dead was strictly for his fans and that the project would be marketed both as his final effort as an unsigned talent and as a musical transition from moderately-successful independent artist to full-fledged member of the Def Jux crew.

"Check It Out", one of the more memorable tracks from Danny Is Dead, is essentially a revamp of A Tribe Called Quest's "Find A Way" from The Love Movement (1998). "Check It Out"'s glossy reinterpretation of "Find A Way" -- referred to by Pitchfork Media as a "Benihana job"^[3], alluding to the famous Japanese restaurant -- encompasses the same cadences and rhyme structure used on its predecessor.

[edit] Reception

The record was well-received and touted by critics as a sign of great music to come from Danny. PopMatters optimistically stated that while Danny certainly "has a brilliant album in him", Danny Is Dead ultimately "lacks the amazingness of both what he’s done and what he’s likely to do"^[4]. RapReviews.com gave the album an 8.5 out of 10 -- the same score given to Charm -- and offered that Danny "continues to impress...this rapper's career [is] definitely on the rise"^[5].

Overall Danny Is Dead was hailed as an enjoyable album, short enough to not overwhelm listeners and long enough to keep them interested in future material. Presumably playing up his claims of being "A Tribe Called Quest on acid", Danny's first single from Danny Is Dead, entitled "Check It Out", is, for all intents and purposes, an energetic remake of their 1998 single "Find A Way". A known fan of the Native Tongues posse, Danny allegedly recorded the song as both homage to his musical influences and as a way to pick up where artists in the crew "left off"; specifically A Tribe Called Quest, as the song in which "Check It Out" derives from was first introduced on The Love Movement, the group's final album together. This song was the most well-received track from Danny Is Dead (followed closely by "Fly, Pt. 2"), and was briefly featured by Pitchfork Media, URB Magazine's website, and other popular hip-hop sites such as The Couch Sessions and Okayplayer, among others. "Check It Out", like "Find A Way", incorporates a sample from Towa Tei's "Technova".

[edit] Availability

Danny Is Dead was, like Charm before it, released worldwide through retail chains such as Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and FYE. Considering that at the time Danny was still an unsigned artist, securing large-scale distribution was seen as an amazing accomplishment. More copies were pre-ordered and subsequently sold than anticipated, and a second short run of discs were pressed up not even a month after Danny Is Dead's July 17th release date. As a result, the album was listed as "out of stock" or "back-ordered" for several weeks, much to the dismay of fans attempting to track down the EP.

In an effort to increase morale in lieu of shipping delays, Danny urged fans to upload pictures of Danny Is Dead in their possession on his MySpace blog with the promise of "something special" in return. Though fans have since uploaded their own personal pictures, it is unknown what Danny has actually given as compensation; it is assumed to be outtakes and obscure songs from previous albums.

Three different versions of Danny Is Dead were manufactured and shipped to various outlets in different regions of the world. HMV's UK and Japanese stores have since stocked the item; on the Japanese retail version sold on HMV Japan, the bonus track "Just Friends (Live)" is included at the end of a reprise of "Now You're Back", played by longtime associate of Danny Stephen Pender. In England, the never-before-released "Fullaschidt, Pt. 2" (also known as "Fullaschidt (remix)") is preceded by "Outro (Dead...?)", just as "Ebony Flower" is on the North American retail version. As of August 2007, only the Japanese retail version has been made available for sale on iTunes.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Bonus tracks

• "Fullaschidt, Pt. 2" (available on the UK version), 2:55
• "Just Friends (Live)" (available on the Japanese version), 3:50

[edit] Credits

• Danny! - Executive Producer, Producer, Composer, Featured Vocals

[edit] Trivia

• "Check It Out" first appeared -- in instrumental form -- on Dream, Fulfilled, Danny's second instrumental album.
• Similarly, the bonus tracks "Just Friends (Live)" and "Fullaschidt, Pt. 2" were previously used as tracks on Danny's instrumental albums: "Twilight Mist" from Dream, Interrupted and "Games They Play" from Dream, Fulfilled, respectively.
• Danny revealed that the drum pattern used on "Press Conference" was inspired by, and is a slight variant of, those found on rapper Common's "A Film Called (Pimp)". Like many of the tracks on Like Water For Chocolate, "...(Pimp)" was produced by the late Jay Dee.
• Danny Is Dead was originally going to be made up of nothing but studio outtakes; Danny would later change his mind and record all new material during the course of one studio session.
• The ambulance sequence on "Outro (Dead...?)" is lifted from a portion of the ballad "Poor Charlotte", making Danny Is Dead the third consecutive studio album from Danny to pay some sort of homage to The Miracles' City Of Angels LP.
• Atlanta-based singer Joi was originally slated for guest vocals on "Check It Out" but the collaboration never materialized, allegedly due to scheduling conflicts on the behalf of both artists.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• "Danny Is Dead" audio snippets courtesy of Barnes & Noble
• "Danny Is Dead" lyrics courtesy of the Original Hip-Hop Lyrics Archive (OHHLA.com)
• "Fly, Pt. 2" video courtesy of YouTube