Danger Mouse has unleashed the first track for the soundtrack to upcoming film Baby Driver, directed by Edgar Wright. Chase Me not only features Danger Mouse’s consistently brilliant production talents, but the wicked combination of Run The Jewels and Outkast’s Big Boi.
The track is aggressive and punchy, with a heavy, spaced-out beat setting the scene, embellished by heavy guitars, a menacing bass and melodic breakdowns.
Each artist deliver heady, braggadocios verses, with some really fun alliteration and wordplay throughout (“I’m bagging a bag, then I’m backing out, better back off” / “Bad manners, the bad manor do bad things, a bad bitch gave me bomb head to Bad Brains”).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pi7UJHXtzs
The relationship between RTJ and Outkast goes way, way back – Killer Mike’s first ever recorded verse was on the Outkast album Stankonia. Though embroiled in a nasty little feud in the late 2000s, Big Boi and Killer Mike nevertheless made up, and have released numerous collaborations since. Notably, Big Boi also featured on Banana Clipper from RTJ’s self-titled debut album, and most recently, Killer Mike features on Big Boi’s newest single Kill Jill, also featuring Jeezy.
Wow, wow, wow. Just when you thought this week couldn’t get any better for music (and shit it’s only Tuesday), Big Boi has taken it to the next level, announcing that he and Killer Mike are planning to release a joint EP.
In celebration of twenty years of Outkast‘s ATLiens, Spin interviewed Big Boi about the album, its impact and more. At one point Big Boi, who is currently on tour with his Phantogram collaborative project Big Grams, brings up Killer Mike.
While many know Killer Mike as one half of Run The Jewels, he pretty much owes his entire career to Outkast – his first ever album feature was on the Stankonia track Snappin’ & Trappin’, and the pair have since featured on more than ten tracks together across Outkast and Killer Mike’s solo career, including the Grammy winning Outkast track The Whole World. As part of Run The Jewels, Mike and Big Boi also recently collaborated on the Big Grams track Born to Shine. Big Boi also featured on Banana Clipper, from RTJ’s first self-titled album. So I guess you could say they work together pretty well.
When Spin asked about if the pair have been working together more recently, Big Boi revealed that they’ve got a lot up their sleeves. “Boy, absolutely! Wait until you hear this new s**t. Killer Mike is busy as hell. I mean, he’ll come straight from the airport and go into the studio and bust on two or three records and come back again the next day. We’re just trying to put as many ideas out there as possible. And me and Killer Mike, we’re gonna put out a little EP after I put out my next solo record or something like that. We’ve been entertaining the idea for a long time and finally got enough songs to where we just said the other night that we’re gonna do it. You getting a scoop there.”
Holy moly, that is going to be one amazing EP. We can only hope he’s true to his word about both this and his own solo album.
And for the record, I hope it’s called Killer Bois.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hruW7-mYWhY
Image: AP/Mark J. Terrill
Atlanta rappers Killer Mike, Big Boi and T.I. have provided information in a 34 page brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday.
The legal proceedings concern a young Mississippi rapper T-Bizzle (born Taylor Bell) who was suspended from high school for recording a song containing lyrics which alleged that two of his gym teachers were guilty of sexual misconduct towards female students.
Railing against the injustice of the unwanted advances Bell laid down lyrical line “Looking down girls’ shirts/drool running down your mouth.”
“Going to get a pistol down your mouth” the rapper added.
The actual suspension occurred in 2011, but the school’s decision to punish Bell for his art has triggered a First Amendment case. The rapper and his support team have essentially been battling it out in U.S. courts ever since, challenging the meaning of ‘free speech’ in a legal and ethical environment.
The court document opened in defence of the rap genre. “It probably is worth noting that he has never actually killed anyone,” stated Run the Jewels co-founder Killer Mike.
Mike also compared lyrics from rap songs to those in other genres, pointing out that there are violent, aggressive and accusatory lyrics in songs like Johnny Cash‘s Folsom Prison Blues (“I shot a man in Reno/just to watch him die”) and Bob Marley‘s I Shot the Sheriff, that are not placed under the same critical scrutiny as hip-hop.
Mike has been a vocal commentator on how the U.S. legal system has mistreated fellow artists, penning a heated opinion piece on the topic in 2014.
The case was previously rejected by an appeals court which found the lyrics ‘vulgar.’
Notably, female students from the school have actually provided sworn legal statements attesting to the sexual misconduct the song described.
The Supreme Court will convene in February to decide whether to hear the appeal in full.
While Australian musicians do not enjoy as strong of a legal right to defend freedom of speech, a finding that the suspension was unlawful would be a victory for rappers world over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-S9mtYowPY
Read More: Killer Mike dines with Bernie Sanders
Big Grams, the epic collaboration between Outkast alumni Big Boi and Phantogram, came together to offer up an electric performance of their hybrid R&B/electro-pop music for an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
The outfit performed tracks Goldmine Junkie and Drum Machine, with Big Boi and Sarah Barthel (who was sporting avian-inspired feather dress) out front while Josh Carter held it down in the back with the Maschine pad. The songs were performed alongside the Brooklyn Express Drum Line.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9nBUD4VSX0&w=560&h=315]
The songs are off the collaborative collective’s debut album Big Grams, a seven-track EP that originally came about after Phantogram worked with Big Boy on 2012 album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumours.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLWarOqQyX8&w=560&h=315]
Broadcasting from the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House this week instead of its native Los Angeles, Big Grams performance was part of a string of high profile appearances. Even Marty McFly and Doc Brown managed to time-travel into the studio.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0VGRlEJewA&w=560&h=315]
Jay Z also managed to swing by the show earlier in the week, dishing on everything from his favourite New York pizzeria, to his wife Beyonce’s weird pizza eating habits and his upbringing in Brooklyn.
“She’s from Houston, first of all,” Jay Z said. “They don’t have pizza there.”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MudvLw8hLoo&w=560&h=315]
Even Ryan Adams made an appearance, performing a cover of Taylor Swift’s Welcome to New York from his version of 1989.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69HxXfjtH8c&w=560&h=315]
OutKast heavyweight Big Boi, and electro-indie duo Phantogram recently announced that they’ve officially joined forces for a new project called Big Grams. The whole thing comes out this Friday September 25, but they’ve unleashed another single to tantalise our ears until then. It follows on from the recently released Fell In The Sun.
As you might expect, it’s an interesting blend of hip hop and female-fronted electro-pop. These days we usually see electronic and hip hop coming together on heavier styles like trap, and it’s generally a lot more aggressive than this. Lights On, more even than Fell In The Sun, heavily focuses on the electro-pop side of things, with a Big Boi verse wedged in between the angelic melody, courtesy of vocalist Sarah Barthel, and the big Chvrches-esque singalong chorus. While the indie melody admittedly heads toward a top-heavy place, the thumping bass anchors the soundscape down, rounding it out nicely.
To briefly opine, I’m not as taken away by Lights On as I thought I’d be, but that may mostly be because it feels more like a Phantogram ft. Big Boi track than a real joint effort. That said, I loved Fell In The Sun, and I have high hopes for the rest. We still haven’t hear the Skrillex and Run The Jewels-featuring numbers, after all.
Anyway, we’ll get to see how it all pans out this Friday.
Big Grams Tracklist:
- Run for Your Life
- Lights On
- Fell In The Sun
- Put It On Her
- Goldmine Junkie
- Born To Shine [ft. Run the Jewels]
- Drum Machine [ft. Skrillex]
Pre-order Big Grams on iTunes
After making their debut live last month as the collaboration, Big Boi and Phantogram have finally released their first single under the moniker Big Grams. The trio revealed the song Fell in the Sun as the lead single form their forthcoming EP under the same name Big Grams.
The Outkast alumni joins the indie-pop duo for a song that is cinematic and spacious in scope, underplayed with some seriously slicks synth and rap hooks, featuring a shout out to Atlanta and New York, where Big Boi and Phantogram come from respectively, from the latter’s Sarah Barthel.
Big Boi, who was impressed by Phantogram’s Mouthful of Diamonds, reached out to the two after he shazaamed the song off an ad it was featured in. They collaborated together on three songs from Big Boi’s Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumours solo album, and it was only natural that their own EP, Big Grams, followed it.
The track debuted on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 show and can be heard below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM0qq_WtH7U&w=560&h=315]
Big Grams Tracklist:
- Run for Your Life
- Lights On
- Fell In The Sun
- Put It On Her
- Goldmine Junkie
- Born To Shine [ft. Run the Jewels]
- Drum Machine [ft. Skrillex]
The album is out on September 25th and you can pre-order it on iTunes here.