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Word off the streetBad News Brown looks back at busking and
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It’s been over half a decade since Montreal’s Bad News Brown last got up at 4 a.m. to hit the metros and share his hip hop harmonica stylings with anyone in earshot. He’s still ranking in the Best Busker category of the Mirror’s annual Best of Montreal poll, but he ain’t bothered. “That means I did my job—marketing myself, promoting myself, learning my craft, getting a little change while perfecting my thing,” says Brown, relaxing on the couch of his St-Henri home. “I could have practiced for three years and then come out, but that would leave three years when someone could take my spot. I said, forget it. I’m in your face, right away.” He reflects fondly on that time, but understands it as part of a long-term plan that was always in place, one that led to gigs in the U.S., props from Nas and De La Soul, and now, at long last, a debut album, Born 2 Sin. “You can’t run before you walk,” he says, aptly cradling his toddler in his arms. “You gotta crawl, then walk, then you can run.” Bad News Brown is bound to run far with Born 2 Sin, packed with jams that are competitive with anything in the clubs right now. Much credit is due to the production skills of Zoobone’s Haig V. (Bran Van 3000, Muzion)— “It wouldn’t be the same without him,” says Brown of his old friend. The title track’s a jolt of sunshine amid the midnight cool of the rest of the record. “I needed something that was light enough, but still in my zone. If you listen to the lyrics, it’s about being addicted to my harmonica, almost like a drug. So it’s light, but it has a dark side to it. “When you release an album, you need some kind of an anchor, so that radio can jump on it and all different types of people can listen to it. My album’s very hip hop- and electronic-oriented, but I wanted a song that older people and kids can associate with.” Brown’s hesitant to categorize what he does as simply hip hop with a harmonica. “To me, it’s a Montreal album that is accessible worldwide. Montreal has a big hip hop culture and a very big electronic culture—house, trance, drum & bass—and I go to all those events. I’m completely lost in music. I tried to put all those elements together on the album. “I can rap, I can sing a bit, I can do all that but it’s not what drives me crazy. It’s not what gets me up in the morning. That’s the harmonica.” Bad News Brown was rapping under the Chameleon moniker long before he pocketed a childhood toy offhandedly on a family visit and tooted on it while waiting for a bus—thus discovering his path in life. He’s still got plenty of fresh rhymes to spit, but his true voice, perhaps, comes through his harp. “Harmonicas talk. They speak your mind. It’s an expressive instrument. The way you hit it, depending on how you use your body and your hands, it’ll cry like a baby or wail like a train, and in between, there are so many variations. “You can play it clean, but when you play it dirty, you’re talking with that shit.” CD LAUNCH AT CLUB SODA ON |
