Nashville’s Ernest K. recently released “Bad Boy” via Big Loud / Human Re Sources / Tree Vibez, a label partnership between Big Loud (Florida Georgia Line, Chris Lane), Brian Kelly and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line, and legendary music mogul J Erving (Nelly, Jeremih). Now the track, which has over half a million Spotify streams, has a video showcasing the genre-bending artist’s hometown hang.
“‘Bad Boy’ is a song that includes every bit of who I am, from the lyrics to the sound,” proclaims K.
“We wanted to take it back to Ernest K.’s Nashville roots,” says director Justin Clough of the clip. “Shooting Ernest around his real friends, at places he has frequented growing up. It stays simple and compliments the song, which is why we strayed away from a story line.”
https://youtu.be/LMlvo8IAIic
“Everyone in the video is a Nashville artist or creator in some way or another,” adds Ernest K. “I really used that day to get ALL of us together and feast at Bolton’s Spicy Chicken & Fish… that REAL Nashville hot chicken. My man Justin did an amazing job of giving people a raw look at who I am. He truly helped me bring my vision of Nashville and dream of unity to a screen.”
Growing up making beats while most kids made paper airplanes and learning banjo while listening to rap, K’s always bent the rules and eschewed the predictable.
Adopted at three weeks old, the victim of a freak heart attack at age 19 and overcoming a battle with addiction in college, Ernest K. embraces surmounting, ridiculous odds as a gift, not a curse. Bold, brave and daring, Ernest K’s sound is a diary of his experiences, mingling tropical beats from the year he spent writing on the island of St. Thomas with his southern roots. His verses fuse the effortlessness of Eminem’s wordplay, the complex cadences of Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper, and an enterprising pop spirit into something thoroughly unique and infectious. And while his songs may be danceable, there’s always a story resting beneath the surface.
Ernest K. will be releasing more singles through the end of the year leading to his debut album.
