Danny Brown/Kitty/Smokescreen

Most of the recent press surrounding rapper Danny Brown has focused on that blowjob he allegedly received during a performance in Minneapolis. Whether or not the incident really happened (reports vary), Brown is a talented up-and-coming rapper who would prefer to be remembered as a stellar lyricist. Inspired by N.W.A. and Ice-T, he writes street-smart songs on last year’s XXX, an album of dirty rhymes that more than lived up to its title. Brown, who is in the final mixing stage of mixing a new studio album due out in August, says he “just wants to make music.” “I don’t have an ulterior motive for doing this shit. I just do it. I’m a fan of it and I want to push our genre forward and not be ashamed to say that I’m a rapper. Just because you think you’re being true to hip-hop doesn’t mean you’re hip-hop. That just means you’re a poser. ” (Jeff Niesel)