Bad News Brown
While this late great hip hop harmonica player was murdered and found in an alley located in Montreal, Canada (yikes), there is still a lot we can learn from this under-appreciated harp player. His melodies were put together well, he did work with a genre we don’t understand well enough and he left us blue prints on how to play to this odd genre. We don’t forget simply that we used to play hip hop and simply move away from it. As musicians, we need to study what he did closely and see how it relates to us today.
Probably the first thing should be noted about Bad News was that he was repetitive. Now we often view repetition as something we should avoid and not do often. True, but like the guy says repetition is catchy. I can’t think of a song more repetitive than I’m a Man by Bo Diddley, yet harp players love it. We move to far away from the mentality of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. If the lick or phrase you’re working with, it’s ok to play it two or three times. This form of playing isn’t considered horribly unacceptable by audiences and while we try to be original, audiences are really what we play for.
The second, and probably most important thing to note, is that he played hip hop. While Adam Gussow may have ventured into a hip hop-like style Bad News was pure hip hop. As a community, we don’t touch on genres that are getting popular and I don’t really see why. Bad news went on to open for people such as Aerosmith, Nelly, Kanye West, and many more. When did we suddenly determine hip hop was forbidden fruit? It sells and we can always make it our way. Don’t get me wrong, those who don’t want to perform it shouldn’t, but I don’t see why not even if the performer only slightly enjoys hip hop.
The third, and possibly less significant reason is that he wasn’t afraid to show his instruments off. I give a lot of respect to people like Todd Parrott and Charlie Musselwhite who do the same thing, when they post videos, play live gigs, or appear in public. Often when we have our hands up to our mouths, cupped up tight when we’re playing in occasions that aren’t even out-outdoors we don’t make our instruments visible. Stop doing this, it confuses audiences.
While this late great hip hop harmonica player was murdered and found in an alley located in Montreal, Canada (yikes), there is still a lot we can learn from this under-appreciated harp player. His melodies were put together well, he did work with a genre we don’t understand well enough and he left us blue prints on how to play to this odd genre. We don’t forget simply that we used to play hip hop and simply move away from it. As musicians, we need to study what he did closely and see how it relates to us today.
Probably the first thing should be noted about Bad News was that he was repetitive. Now we often view repetition as something we should avoid and not do often. True, but like the guy says repetition is catchy. I can’t think of a song more repetitive than I’m a Man by Bo Diddley, yet harp players love it. We move to far away from the mentality of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. If the lick or phrase you’re working with, it’s ok to play it two or three times. This form of playing isn’t considered horribly unacceptable by audiences and while we try to be original, audiences are really what we play for.
The second, and probably most important thing to note, is that he played hip hop. While Adam Gussow may have ventured into a hip hop-like style Bad News was pure hip hop. As a community, we don’t touch on genres that are getting popular and I don’t really see why. Bad news went on to open for people such as Aerosmith, Nelly, Kanye West, and many more. When did we suddenly determine hip hop was forbidden fruit? It sells and we can always make it our way. Don’t get me wrong, those who don’t want to perform it shouldn’t, but I don’t see why not even if the performer only slightly enjoys hip hop.
The third, and possibly less significant reason is that he wasn’t afraid to show his instruments off. I give a lot of respect to people like Todd Parrott and Charlie Musselwhite who do the same thing, when they post videos, play live gigs, or appear in public. Often when we have our hands up to our mouths, cupped up tight when we’re playing in occasions that aren’t even out-outdoors we don’t make our instruments visible. Stop doing this, it confuses audiences.
