My love for hip-hop runs pretty deep. I respect those that love it so much, they branch out with their own hip-hop flavored projects. Now, not every project is a hit – culture vultures and others who simply seek to commodify the art are many – but today’s subject is one that seems to have it deep in their veins.
Renegade Brass Band tells you just about everything you need to know about them in name alone. A hefty eleven-piece band plus one vocalist, they are well-versed in the delivery of groovy rhythms, catchy melodies, and silky lyrical flows. These days you have to look at the underground to find bands doing this style of hip-hop, and we’re quite happy to showcase one of those bands here today by premiering RBB‘s newest video and single, “Maybe Tomorrow”, which comes from their upcoming EP Bottle This Fire, being released May 6 via Nah’m Sayin’ Records.
There’s a lot going on here. The brass, as expected, is warmly prominent throughout the whole track, layering deep melodies to bridge between them and the rhythm section, but also standing on their tip-toes with higher tones for accents. Trumpets, trombones, saxophone, and more meld cleanly with each other and the rest of the jazzed-out instrumental foundation, including bass and, a hip-hop staple and standout, a turntable to provide some scratching and sampling during breaks in vocals, provided by rapper V3xation.
Per the band, they describe “Maybe Tomorrow” as ‘gritty brass and crunching beats swirl around V3xation’s lyrics, where living your life as a movie takes on a darker, more introspective edge. The closing moments race out of control, as we try to keep our head above the waves.’ The video matches this theme well with some film grain effects and cinematic angles showcasing the band at play on stage, and V3xation in a number of environments as he throws some mean rap hands and hard truth bars on the fragility of life and living every moment with purpose and like it’s your last. The whole song culminates in a quickened drum and bass section where Renegade Brass Band show just how well the tenets of electronic music rhythms can lend themselves to rap.
Great band, great approach, and great respect for what they do. If you wanna show them how much you appreciate this style of hip-hop, head on over to Renegade Brass Band‘s Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to pump their quite respectable numbers up even more. You can also check out their official site. Keep an eye out for Bottle This Fire coming out on May 6 on Nah’m Sayin’ Records!
Featured band image by Charlie Jepson, page header image by Robert Gershinson
