Danny Brown, "Blunt After Blunt"
The escaped Bengal tiger last seen terrorizing suburban Portland, Oregon two months ago in Stephen Malkmus’ “Tigers” video has been found in a Detroit basement. Apparently, whatever tranquilizer the animal control agent used to temporarily subdue him has led to the development of a serious drug addiction. And turned him into rapper Danny Brown, who is excellent.
It’s interesting that this video, which was directed by newly-minted millionaire ASAP Rocky, comes so closely on the heels of the one for “Another Blunt,” from Brown’s pal and fellow Detroit rapper Quelle Chris. Note the similarity in theme.
If you’re surprised that a tiger might venture from Portland to Detroit, don’t be. They are a species that can be comfortable in a wide range of environments. As Caroline Alexander writes in her article about the struggle to save tigers from extinction:
Tiger tracks have been found in Bhutan above 13,000 feet, an altitude overlapping the domain of the snow leopard, while tigers in the saltwater mangrove swamps of the Bangladeshi and Indian Sundarbans are powerful swimmers and have learned to supplement their diets with marine life.
Alexander traveled to India, home to over 50 percent of the world’s 4,000 surviving wild tigers, to visit Ranthambore National Park, outside the city of Jaipur in the northwestern state of Rajastan. There are 41 tigers living in Ranthambore’s tiger reserve, and Fateh Singh Rathore, assistant field director of the park, is very passionate about their conservation.
“I want it in my will,” Fateh Singh Rathore had told me in Ranthambore, his eyes burning bright behind his spectacles. “When I die, you spread my ashes on these grounds so the tiger can walk upon my ashes.”
That would look something like Danny Brown’s video.