Collection: BadBadNotGood

BadBadNotGood (stylised in all caps, often abbreviated BBNG) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski, who met as students in Humber College's jazz programme. They bonded over a shared passion for jazz and hip hop, initially experimenting with improvisational covers of hip-hop tracks by Odd Future, Gucci Mane, Kanye West, and Earl Sweatshirt. Their cover of Gucci Mane's "Lemonade" was uploaded to YouTube and caught the attention of Tyler, The Creator, and went viral. They uploaded their first EP BBNG to Bandcamp in June 2011, which included covers of A Tribe Called Quest, Waka Flocka Flame, and Odd Future. In September 2011, they released their debut album BBNG. In April 2012, they released BBNG2, featuring original material and covers of Kanye West, My Bloody Valentine, James Blake, Earl Sweatshirt, and Feist. They were band-in-residence at Coachella 2012 and backed Frank Ocean both weekends.

Their third album III was released in 2014 and was the group's first album of entirely original music. Sour Soul was released 2015 in collaboration with Ghostface Killah and featured MF DOOM, Elzhi, Danny Brown, and Tree. In 2016, frequent collaborator Leland Whitty joined as the fourth member on saxophone. Their fourth solo album IV was released in 2016. Tavares stopped touring in 2017 and officially departed in October 2019, reducing the group to a trio. Talk Memory was released in 2021, produced with Floating Points, and their latest album Mid Spiral was released in July 2024. They have collaborated with Tyler, The Creator, Daniel Caesar, Mick Jenkins, Kendrick Lamar, Charlotte Day Wilson, Baby Rose, and Arthur Verocai.