Jaded, My Tummy

The integration of jazz and hip-hop has appeared any many forms the past few decades. A whole crop of them were hot in the early-'90s hip-hop heyday with A Tribe Called Quest being the most notable (but remember Digable Planets and Resurrection-age Com Sense?). Even today, there are a new crop of young, innovative jazz heads who incorporate hip-hop into their music. Blue Note pianist/composer Robert Glasper is the first to come to mind (Karriem Riggins, Stefon Harris, Jason Moran...).

 Well, these three, under-21, Canadian knuckleheads are named BADBADNOTGOOD (BBNG), and they're a jazz band that reinterprets notable hip-hop songs à la El Michels Affair, except they play a whole lot more types of tracks. Recently, BBNG has been in the music news for their performance backing Odd Future at the Coachella Festival in California. One thing I really I like about their covers is that they don't feel so obligated to recreate the track in every way. They leave room for improvisation and exploration. Although their sound is real fresh and organic and I love some of their cover choices, I can't say I'd want to buy an album from them. But, luckily we don't have to, because they offer all their music for free here: http://badbadnotgood.bandcamp.com. Check out digital releases BBNG (2011) and BBNG2 (2012) where they cover Nas, Gucci Mane, Joy Division, the Zelda soundtrack, James Blake, and A Tribe Called Quest. I got word of them from The Revivalist blog (definitely worth checking for) over at Okayplayer. Here is their video for "Electric Relaxation" (A Tribe Called Quest):