EVEN A DUMMY WOULD GROOVE TO RAE SREMMURD
The duo dish on the Mannequin Challenge, ‘Black Beatles’ and fave tunes
Just as quickly as people jumped on Juju on That Beat, another viral craze is sweeping the nation.
Scrolling through your social media timelines in the past couple of weeks, you’ve more than likely seen at least a few #MannequinChallenge videos, in which people pose in funny, oftentimes uncomfortable positions as someone films them. But every viral clip needs its theme music, and the unofficial song of the Mannequin Challenge has become Rae Sremmurd’s Black Beatles, which shot to No. 1 on
the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart last week.
Produced by Mike Will Made It and featuring Gucci Mane, Black Beatles is a woozy tribute to fast living and the Fab Four, taken off the Mississippi rap duo’s sophomore album, SremmLife 2. Aaquil “Slim Jxmmi” Brown, 22 (one-half of Rae Sremmurd with brother Khalif “Swae Lee,” 21) chats with USA TODAY about the song ’s viral success and getting the blessing of Sir Paul McCartney:
Q Congratulations on going No. 1. Did you do anything to celebrate?
A Yes, we threw a house party, and Keke Palmer and Tinashe came and celebrated with us. Then the next day we went and partied again, and I drank a whole bottle of cham- pagne. I think all of us did, just to see if we could.
Q You’ve worked with Nicki Minaj before (on last year’s Throw Sum Mo). Did she reach out to you guys about doing the Black Barbies remix?
A Yeah, I believe she reached out to Mike and said she was happy to see two young men being successful, coming from not the best of circumstances. She really liked what we were doing and wanted to do it.
Q When did she record it?
A I think she had done it the night before ( Black Beatles) went No. 1. I’m not too sure about the timing, but it was real close together. Nicki Minaj might be psychic.
Q How did the idea for Black Beatles emerge?
A We were saying we were some black rock stars and The Beatles were an iconic group, and we kind of have the same thing going on. They were young, crazy and had the young people going nuts. ... So we said “Black Beatles.”
Q Do you have a favorite Beatles song ?
A My favorite is Day Tripper. Day Tripper is the best song ever, it’s like being high and having a good time.
Q How’d you react when you saw Paul McCartney’s Mannequin Challenge video?
A Oh, man. When I saw his, I was like, “We made it now.”
Q Has he reached out to you guys?
A It was just the video. But it’d be so cool if on a ( Black Beatles) remix, Paul McCartney sang the hook and we had a live band instrumental, and then we said our verses over the instrumental. That’d be so, so awesome. My life would be complete.