When vocalist/bassist G’Ra Asim, synth op/vocalist Rhiana Hernandez, and lead guitarist/vocalist Jake Lazaroff were brought together by a mutual friend and a well-timed Craigslist ad, they couldn’t have possibly known what a powerful force of nature they were creating. The band they created, Baby Got Back Talk — which was later rounded out by guitarist Sir Fabein Lee and drummer Nakul Agrawal — represents the quintessential punk band for the 2020s: socially conscious with a focus on issues of race and gender, deeply devoted to a D.I.Y. lifestyle, and dedicated to injecting innovative new elements to punk rock. Now as the second Trump administration looms over America like a dark shadow of evil, BGBT are not about to accept the return of the MAGA agenda without a fight.
The band’s 2020 full-length debut, Genre Reveal Party, started making a name for BGBT as they were named one of the 500 Essential Pop-Punk Albums in a new book by idobi Network’s Paige Owens. Recently, Baby Got Back Talk launched their multimedia project Articulate at That Level, a project born out of a response to comments by Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner. Wenner released a book of interviews with musical icons he called “masters” and somehow failed to include a single woman or artist of color in his book. When questioned on it, Wenner responded that women and BIPOC people “just didn’t articulate at that level.” In response came Baby Got Back Talk’s compilation album of woman and/or people of color in music who absolutely articulate on that level. To coincide with the album release, Asim published an essay in The Boston Globe about the purpose of the compilation album and the importance of recognizing the contributions of diverse groups of people in alternative music. BGBT released their single “Guilty of Being Bright” (the title a riff off of a controversial Minor Threat song) as an accompaniment to Asim’s essay. Baby Got Back Talk demonstrate, with everything they do, that they will be unapologetically loud about what they believe in.
Today, the band are debuting the video for their latest single “Home Groan,” which sees the New York punks putting one foot in the saddle as they inject some country twang into their punk rock style. “Like every mildly reasonable human being on Earth, Baby Got Back Talk is going into the MAGA 2.0 era kicking and screaming,” explain the band. “But what we really do best is riffing and crooning—with a pinch of trolling while we’re at it. That’s why we’re greeting the new year by dropping a Y’allternative track. From Lil Nas X to Beyonce to Shaboozey, the 2020s have seen black artists making headway in country music. Predictably, they’ve also encountered some headwinds, as the genre’s gatekeepers have been, let’s say, slow to embrace innovation. The best way to bust that gate wide open is for black artists to mob even deeper in the space. With new single ‘Home Groan,’ we offer our own entry to the black country canon with a pop punk spin on things. It’s a total bonus if it gives hicks the ick.”
With down-home country style finger picking combined with an emo melody and just a touch of ska guitar, this is a song that throws a lot of things into the blender and finds them all working together perfectly. With a video that depicts a queer, Black love story of longing in the modern world, it’s a Y’allternative anthem that’s firmly rooted in 2024. Check out the video below.
BGBT are playing an anti-inauguration benefit show January 20 at Gold Sounds in Brooklyn, NY with MakeWar and Part-Time Trauma. Proceeds from the benefit, which is hosted by Collective Scream, will go to the New York Immigration Coalition to protect the vulnerable individuals who will be coming under attack from the incoming presidential administration.
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Photo courtesy of Baby Got Back Talk
