Meet The Neighbors: Ben The Glorious Bastard

SSN: First of all, tell us a bit about yourself, Ben the Glorious Bastard.

BGB: I’m a 33-year-old French beatmaker, audio engineer, and producer from Paris. I relocated to Brooklyn 6 months ago to expand my activities.

What brought you to South Slope?

It’s a “friend of a friend of a friend of a friend” type of story. I just arrived in NYC, was looking for a place and it happened that I found the perfect one in South Slope.

How would you describe your music?

A sort of hip-hop/jazz made with a sampler. Each song is made of tens and tens of samples from different records, genres, eras. It’s like my own crazy band.

How did South Slope influence your new EP, Brooklyn Bullsh*t Vol.1: Coffee, Weed and Brownstones?

I work a lot from home, so I spend a lot of time in South Slope. This neighborhood is inspirational — South Slope has the Brooklyn vibe with a different, unique, cozy feel. So when I broke it down it came down to these 3 elements to describe the vibe of the EP: coffee, weed, and brownstones. It goes together, like onion rings, barbecue sauce, and mexicoke.

Do you have any shows on the horizon?

The downside of doing sample-based music is that it’s not that easy to do shows, so I don’t have much coming that way, but I have a lot of music going on. First, the Brooklyn Bullsh*t series, the next volumes are getting cooked, volume 2 is almost ready, 3 is on his way. Then I have collaborations with different artists like Biggz General (Bob Marley’s grandson), rapper C-Rayz Walz, and other projects in progress.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen in the neighborhood?

I have been in many crazy places, really, and I think that the strangest thing about this neighborhood is how nice people are. Seriously. I love it.

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Photo via Facebook