Just when I thought Danny Brown had given everything he could with Atrocity Exhibition in the autumn of 2016, it came as a surprise when, a few months later, two new songs that were worked on during the sessions for that album were announced to be released on a new (but short) EP. Paul White produced the majority of Atrocity Exhibition providing the psychedelic, spaced out, and generally trippy backdrops to many of the songs that made the album such an enthralling one to listen to. That record itself is bordering on a collaboration project. Man, I love that album so much.

So the Accelerator EP (credited with White as the main artist featuring Brown) accompanied with its title track and today’s song, ‘Lion’s Den’. They both are in the same vein of the tracks that appeared on Exhibition, echoing the main themes that arise on the album. Danny Brown yelps in that signature voice about his struggles with addiction and his personal spiral out of control amidst White’s out there production. ‘Accelerator’, the title track which I wish I could talk more about but won’t because this isn’t its post, is absolutely bonkers and deserves a listen. ‘Lion’s Den’ is the calmer and somewhat more sane number on the EP compared to the loony approach in ‘Accelerator’.

I can’t find anywhere on the Internet that lists the original source of the sample that is used throughout ‘Lion’s Den’ – in the rare occasion that someone reads this comment and direct me to a place that does – but it ultimately makes the track sound very pretty. I thought it was a Japanese sample. Some say it’s French. I’m not sure. I thought there was some sort of Eastern Asian tone to it. I’m probably wrong. I’m digressing. Ultimately, the track sees Danny Brown looking back on the man he has become, growing up in Detroit where a lot of bad shit goes down, overcoming those who told him he would never make it as a rapper, but majorly seeing that his debauchery and hedonistic lifestyle could catch up to him at any moment. This was him in a dark place. Glad that he seems to have gotten through that though.