Danny Brown poses with Jelma Pejkoric at Zia Records, Nov. 11, 2013. Brown made an appearance at Zia Records, signing albums and posing with fans. (Photo by Murphy Bannerman)Fans wrapped around the walls of Zia Records in queue to get an autograph and picture with hip-hop artist Danny Brown. Visitors were able to pick up Brown's new album, "Old," at Zia or bring their own CDs or vinyl records for him to sign.
Brown met as many people as time allowed at Zia's new location on Mill Avenue before leaving for his show at Club Red in Tempe.
Kat and Maddie Mcgrath were first in line with their copies of the album after hearing about the event just this morning, they said.
The sisters, who were heading to Brown’s show after the signing, were the first fans to make it to Zia and waited in line for about an hour before Brown’s 5 p.m. appearance.
Brown arrived at Zia with his "posse" a fashionable 20 minutes late and got right down to business signing autographs, taking pictures, chatting and joking with his fans and even snagging kisses on the cheek from a few of the ladies. Mechanical engineering sophomore Javier Au, who has been a fan of Brown since early 2012 and was also headed to the show after the signing, caught wind of the event on Twitter.
“Danny tweeted this morning that he’d be here, so here I am,” Au said.
Zia promoted the event via social media and relied on the power of retweets and word of mouth to spread the news, promotions director Mary Papenhausen said.
“We do in-store and online promotions for a few weeks, and the word just gradually snowballs,” Papenhausen said.
Zia Records hosts numerous events every month, whether they are record signings or performances, and the new location offers a bigger venue in comparison to the store on University Drive. Danny Brown’s signing was the third event held at the new location since last month’s opening of the new store.
“This store gives us a lot more space,” said Jason Woodbury, Zia's social media manager.
Woodbury and events manager Zak Frankel manned the signing, ushered fans forward for their turn to meet Brown and took pictures of the event.
When the clock hit 6:15 p.m., Frankel apologetically turned away the last few fans in order to get Brown to his sound check at Club Red.
Brown wrapped up the last few autographs but didn’t leave before commenting on his new album.
“I probably listened to it way more than y’all did," Brown said. "That’s the thing, I listened to it so much before it came out."
But fans shouldn’t worry. Despite the fact that he’s listened to it so much he “can’t even hear it no more,” Brown is still in love with his album.
Reach the reporter at tnguye39@asu.edu or follow her on Twitter @teenyanguyen
