Badman Riddim (Jump)

Album: Single release Only (2011)
Charted: 7
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Songfacts®:

  • Dutch DJ Vato Gonzalez's first single to enter the UK singles chart features vocals from the English hip-hop, grime and dubstep group Foreign Beggars. The Ministry of Sound release was made available to download in the UK on June 19, 2011.
  • The song samples the theme for the 1954 Japanese movie Godzilla. Rapper Pharoahe Monch borrowed the same music for his 1999 hit "Simon Says," but didn't get clearance for it, which created a major headache for his record company. We hope Gonzalez has been more careful.
  • London based Foreign Beggars consists of MCs Orifice Vulgatron, Metropolis, producer Dag Nabbit and DJ Nonames. Orifice Vulgatron and Dag Nabbit met in Dubai and after making drum and bass for a time they switched to hip-hop. DJ Nonames met Metropolis at university in 2000 and the duo joined hip-hop and funk band Focused Few and began throwing warehouse parties and touring. Vulgatron was introduced to Nonames through Dj Gizroc, then part of the Mixologists Crew, and by late 2002 the quartet had started performing and recording alongside beatboxer Shlomo. The band released their first album, Aylum Speakers on November 27, 2003. Shlomo subsequently moved on and started doing his own thing with the Beatbox Orchestra and by 2011 Dagnabbit had taken a backseat and was concentrating on the crew's business side.
  • Metropolis told Ministry of Sound how the collaboration with Vato Gonzalez came about: "We had been on Ministry of Sounds radar for a few months and in discussions about working on a track. They sent us the instrumental to demo something on it, but we barely had any time. When we finally got a date free we managed to record real quick, I was in London, Vulgatron was in Berlin at the time. Thankfully they really liked the way we sounded on it, and booked us in again to get it done properly."
  • A music video to accompany the release of the song was shot in Barcelona and first uploaded onto YouTube on May 18, 2011. Metropolis told Ministry of Sound about the light-hearted rooftop romp: "The director sent us the idea for the video, I think its mainly because of the Godzilla sample. Think the video was based on a Jack Black film where these two guys where in a video store and do remakes of old Japanese B-Movies for their girlfriends. Once again we were so busy on tour it was hard to find the right spot and time to shoot. We had a couple dates in Spain, the crew came out to Barcelona with our costumes and we spent the whole day in the sweltering heat on a rooftop in costume. It was wicked fun. Everyone there was real cool and we got to meet Mr Gonzalez himself."

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