I have said before that there is a “new school” of hip-hop, and if I had to put Danny Brown into this analogy, he would be the class jester rampaging through the school like a tornado made of hilarity and MDMA.

I first got a load of Brown’s style on a cut from the soundtrack for “The Man With The Iron Fists,” “Tick, Tock.” After four verses of serious rapping, there is an awkward silence. Then an accented yowl rips the tension apart with irreverently hilarious verses like, “Got the tongue of a pimp, raised by a dirty preacher/That used the church money to cop a new Bimmer.” Then I saw a picture of him and, for once, he looked exactly as he sounded. His hair was wild, he was smiling widely with a missing front tooth and he was dressed like a hobo with style. I loved it.

So imagine my shock when I popped in his new album “Old” for the first time and not only did I not hear that crazy voice from the beginning, but the lyrics were way more mature and mind-probing than I had expected, like “Because the weak don’t speak, get left in silence/And when you don’t listen, gotta speak with violence.”

“Old” is a double album, and for most of the first side, the 31-year-old rapper’s scars come to the forefront, including childhood trauma, lonesome blues and coming to terms with his much-publicized drug use. I almost did not believe this was him when I was hearing it (yes, I know he had past deeper material now, but I did not when I was listening), especially after hearing his earlier joke-filled appearances. It is pretty incredible, especially when he swears the old him is dead.

Thankfully, Brown’s a bit of a hypocrite, because when Side B rolls around, it is back to the style that got me into him: fully drugged-out bangers with a turned up Danny Brown presiding over the madness in his signature yelping. The reckless immature energy washes over you like a tidal wave, and it is a welcome breather from the heaviness of Side A. “Dip,” “Dope Song” and “Smokin’ and Drinkin’” are the highlights.

Between Brown’s trademark energy and the deep thoughts innumerable drugs could not burn out, “Old” has easily become one of my favorite albums of 2013, even if Danny Brown’s voice makes transcribing lyrics hell.