Way back in October 2020, Detroit rap’s weirdo hero Danny Brown tweeted “XXXX,” which seemed like a teaser for a new album. Brown broke through in 2011 with XXX, an album whose double-entendre title partially referred to him turning 30 years old. Many of us presumed the “XXXX” teaser suggested a new album commemorating his entry into his 40s. But then two and a half more years passed, and no album materialized.

As it turns out, there actually was a new 40-themed album in the works, but it’s been caught up in music industry machinery. On today’s episode of his YouTube-based podcast The Danny Brown Show, Brown said he turned in an album called Quaranta (Italian for 40) two years ago. He says his label, Warp Records, and his manager, Dart Parker, are holding up the release of the album and keeping him in the dark about what’s going on. He also says they’re mad about the release of Scaring The Hoes, Brown’s widely acclaimed new album with JPEGMAFIA. He also speculated that those in charge of his career are trying to “bleed” him until he’s broke so that he’ll do whatever they want, and he instructed his fans to “harass” Warp and Parker in particular with #FreeDanny and #FreeQuaranta hashtags.

Here’s what Brown had to say about Quaranta:

Y’all gotta understand, man, me working with Warp, I don’t know what’s going on with Warp and my management, man. I turned my album in two years ago. And they still, um — I mean, I will say, yeah, we still working on the album, and shit’s getting doper, and whatever the fuck. But at this point man, it’s like where’s the urgency? So I just want to be like, “I don’t know!” Maybe you all need to, everybody, watch this podcast, man. Send a hashtag to Warp Records and a hashtag to my manager, Dart Parker — that’s @dartparker, d-a-r-t-p-a-r-k-e-r. Hashtag that shit #FreeDanny. #FreeQuaranta. Because at this point, man, it’s like, shit, just put the Peggy album out! Y’all n****s, y’all bullshittin’ — what y’all holding me up for? Album been done, been out. So I almost feel like they shelved my shit. ‘Cause that’s what happens a lot of times. They shelf my shit and don’t wanna tell me. Or whatever the fuck. But n**** I’m grown. I’m 40 years old. You can tell me what the fuck is going on. Don’t just have me sitting around for fucking two years. I’m ready to get back to work. And these n****s be like, “Ugghh.” Whatever the fuck. Whatever. So yeah. I’m, um… I’m feeling a type of way. I will say that. I am feeling a type of way. So yeah, please harass Dart Parker. Harass this n****! Like harass him! I’m talking about put his social media in shambles. D-a-r-t-p-a-r-k-e-r. Twitter, all that shit. ‘Cause I feel like it’s more his fault than Warp’s. So get at that n****, man. Y’all want this new Danny Brown album Quaranta? Get at that n****. And that’s what I’m saying. They hatin’. They all hatin’ about this Peggy shit. Because, you know, I would too. ‘Cause they ain’t ’bout to — you know what I’m saying? They ain’t got nothing to do with this. So yeah. So, but they wanna hold on to my album. To hold me up from doing this Peggy shit. I really thought I’d get some hatin’ shit going on. So yeah, I need the fans, I need the people. I remember when Lil Wayne did that. Y’all remember that? They was holding The Carter [V]? Yeah, so, let’s get Quaranta out of here. Let’s just get that out of the way with, man. You know what I’m saying?

When someone off camera remarked that it’s wild a record label can treat an artist that way, Brown continued:

They do that to try to make you go broke. And then you can do whatever they want you to do at that point. Cause you got money and shit, you got power. Like, they can’t really — you know. So I feel like a lot of artists, man, they do that shit. They’ll bleed you so they can be able to manipulate you. So they know, shit, you gotta do it. You gotta pay bills. You know what I’m saying? So. But if you had the money and shit, you’d be telling n****s, “Fuck you!” Like “I ain’t doing this, I ain’t doing that, I ain’t doing this.” You’d be hard to work with. Especially me! So they wanna bleed a n**** so they can be able to take advantage and do whatever they want. That’s the music industry. So! But that’s cool ’cause I get to hang out with my YMH brothers. Imagine if I didn’t have this shit! I probably would have been offed myself. “How y’all gonna do me like this!” But then they’d have put the album out quick as fuck! It doesn’t matter if I die tomorrow, y’all gonna look and it’ll be the — if I die tomorrow it’ll be the motherfucker, the pre-order link’ll pop up tomorrow. You’d be like, “What the fuck!” So fuck y’all n****s. No, I ain’t saying fuck y’all n****s. But fuck y’all n****s! You know what I’m saying. It ain’t fuck y’all n****s, but it’s fuck y’all n****s.

We’ve reached out to Warp and Parker for comment. Brown’s segment about Quaranta begins at the 8:45 mark in the video below.

UPDATE: