Bad News Brown

BAD NEWS BROWN

Born 2 Sin

Spread the word! Bad News Brown is coming, and that’s actually heart-attack serious good news. This multi-talented cool cat from Montreal is about to release a keenly-anticipated debut solo album, and Born 2 Sin will set the hiphop world on its ear.

Hiphop is a genre that prides itself on innovation and reinvention, but the form has never heard anything quite like this. Bad News Brown (aka Paul Frappier) is a true sonic pioneer, blazing new trails by pairing the compelling sound of his chief instrument, the harmonica, with hiphop beats and rhymes. This may initially seem an unusual marriage, but Bad News Brown has already been winning converts to his cause via his high-energy gigs throughout North America.

The skills he has been sharpening over the past decade are now vividly displayed on Born 2 Sin, his highly anticipated LP. His eclectic musical approach makes it very difficult to categorize Bad News Brown’s unique style, but BNB terms it “harmonic hiphop” or “electronic triptronic melodic harmonics. It has a drum n bassy sound, an electronic sound, a hiphop sound, and on top of that a big mass of harmonic melodies.”

His fluent and melodic harmonica sounds weave in and out of the mix intoxicatingly, giving Born 2 Sin a genuinely fresh sound. “Intelligence” is a classic hiphop track featuring beats, scratching, and a cinematic production sound, while “Back On It” possesses an irresistibly sexy and laidback vibe. The title track, a fusion of hiphop and soul, is catchier than swine flu, while the triphoppy “Too Deep” is a tune Massive Attack would proudly call their own. The fittingly entitled opening cut, “Melody,” is reprised as a house remix to, illustrating the adaptability of Bad News Brown’s tunes.

Bad News Brown crafted the tracks on Born 2 Sin in his own studio in Lachine, with production assistance from the likes of Haig V and Primal. “Haig is one of the main producers on the album, with six tracks,” says BNB. “He’s a long-time friend who has worked with the likes of Bran Van 3000 and Muzion. I used to listen to and watch him in his studio back in the day, and I used a lot of his instrumental tracks on this album. I went through his archives, picked out stuff I liked, went home, worked on them, brought them back, and we worked it from there.” This collaborative approach certainly paid off here. The diverse and always interesting beats complement Bad News Brown’s own mix of razor-sharp rapping, soulful vocals, and fluent harmonica playing.

This may be Bad News Brown’s album debut, but he’s certainly no novice. Born in Haiti, he moved to Montreal at a very young age with his adopted family. He left home in his teenage years, and quickly discovered he could make a good living by busking on the street and in Metro stations. Recognizing that there’s no shortage of blues and jazz-oriented harmonica players around, BNB came up with his creative vision of merging his skill on the instrument with his love of hiphop.

“The harmonica always been used for blues, jazz and funk, but I made sure I stepped away from that,” he explains. “I’m a hiphop head and an ex-rapper. I started up making my own rap songs but instead of a hook, I’d put the harmonica in. I was always in the rap zone.”

Bad News Brown first made his name on the Montreal scene as a freestyling young rapper with sick skills. “I was called Chameleon back in the day cause I was so versatile,” he recalls. “I could do gangsta rap, conscious rap, anything. After a while though I stopped blending in like a chameleon, cause everyone recognized me. I’d be the guy jumping up onstage grabbing the mic.”

One night, legendary Montreal rapper Misery suggested a new stage name, Bad News Brown. Coincidentally, that was the name Paul used when wrestling with his older brother as a youngster. The original Bad News Brown was a famed and undefeated WWF wrestler, and this new moniker stuck. The ex-Chameleon re-emerged as BNB in dramatic fashion, onstage at a Misery show. “I did an aggressive freestyle and had a harmonica in my hand. I played a few licks at the end and the crowd went nuts. That was one of my first shows ever with a harmonica. The Montreal Mirror wrote about it, and I realized I’d better quickly learn how to play it for real.”

With harp in hand, the new Bad News Brown was quickly winning talent shows and open-mic battles, and then took his act to the streets. “Busking was the smartest thing I ever did in my life,” he says. “It paid my bills, bought me my studio, and within two years I estimate 50 per cent of the city knew I existed. I was getting paid to market and promote myself!”

The well-dressed, ever-smiling and highly entertaining Bad News Brown quickly made his mark. The Montreal Mirror named him one of the city’s best buskers, and he was soon getting hired to play restaurants and clubs as well. His reputation as a street musician par excellence led to Bad News Brown being chos