So what’s on your to-do list for today? And are you really going to get to all of those items? Chances are, no matter what you’ve scribbled down for yourself, the things on your list aren’t as interesting as the ones that NGHTMRE is checking off. In the very entertaining clip for “BANG,” his latest single, the Los Angeles-based producer shows a wild day in the life of a touring DJ with a massive following. Are his party-crazed objectives tongue in cheek? Well, maybe a bit. But if you had a chance to hang out, go nuts – and make music – with Shaq and Lil Jon, we’re sure you’d leap at it enthusiastically, too.
The collaboration between NGHTMRE, Shaq, and Lil Jon might surprise some fans of club music, but in practice, it feels as natural and inevitable as the union between bass, drums, and synthesizers. NGHTMRE has established his mastery of electro house and bass music on his singles with Flux Pavilion, Dillon Francis, and The Chainsmokers. However, there’s always been a rougher side to his aesthetic – one that draws from aggressive dubstep and the bruising production on wild-eyed Southern hip-hop bangers. NGHTMRE, his debut EP, explored the dangerous intersection between trap and EDM. Shaq, a noted appreciator of rowdy music of all types, recognized NGHTMRE as a fellow traveler. Together, they enlisted Atlanta crunk legend Lil Jon, who has never hesitated to add his inimitable voice to a roughneck beat of any kind.
The result is a track that Billboard calls a “monster”: a hard-hitting club shouter that builds from an atmospheric synthesizer intro to a cascade of drums and a savage bass drop. It’s the most ferocious thing NGHTMRE has ever done, and it illustrates the hit-making and fire-starting skills that prompted Shaq to call the producer “the Larry Bird of dance music.”
A song as relentless as “BANG” requires a video to match, and here, too, NGHTMRE, O’Neal, and Lil John have delivered. It’s a beautiful day in Miami Beach, and the boys have things to accomplish in a town of endless hedonistic possibilities: they’ve got clubs to tear up, pranks to pull, spas to relax at, and a massive crowd of fans to rock. Shaq is, as always, an endearing, fun-loving presence on camera; Lil Jon, true to character, is a bit more glowering, but ultimately, he’s out for a good time, too. As for NGHTMRE himself, he runs through that to-do list with glee – and when he collapses on a beach chair at the end of a loaded day, you’ll know he’s earned his rest.
