Hard Bop In The Paint: BADBADNOTGOOD - "Pretty Boy Swag" (Soulja Boy Remix)

It's pretty wild how a forward-thinking Free Jazz group like BADBADNOTGOOD can take something as "played out" [commercial] as Soulja Boy and re-arrange it so FRESH TO DEF! I got a YouTube email alert from BBNG's channel earlier today, complete with a still video, which was neatly linked directly to their "Pretty Boy Swag" (Remix). While it's their first LEGIT [un-]official remix, I'd almost have to say, for lack of a better term... that what BADBADNOTGOOD do "on the reg." is already pretty remix/instrumental-rooted. The guys of BBNG really seem to teeter the line between Classic Blues-Jazz textbook knowledge and a keen 1980-2000's Hip-Hop know-how!


Chester, Matt & Alex somehow managed to add all sorts of swaying, Jazzy pauses and commas to the now stripped-down "Pretty Boy Swag;" Largely accenting Soulja Boy's weirdly endearing Ringtone Raps, which I was first turned on to through Girl Talk's 2006-10 mixes. BBNG would later go on to say that their main intentions were to "make soulja boy sing on that one... pretty happy with what we came up with!" BBNG #1-2 were released to Bandcamp a few months ago and are still available for FREE download. It's 2 collections that're chock-full of inventive, Jazzed out Modern Hip-Hop standard covers: Earl Sweatshirt, Kanye, James Blake, Lil B, My Bloody Valentine, Gang Starr, and Flying Lotus. Rumor has it that BADBADNOTGOOD are currently chipping away @ their third album, quite appropriately titled "BBNG3" (2013?)