Bad Rabbits

Emerging in the mid-2000s, Boston's Bad Rabbits drew from disco, funk, and new jack swing while rising out of the remnants of the live-oriented ten-piece Eclectic Collective, a group that occasionally backed Slick Rick. With soulful lead singer Dua Boayke front and center, the band cultivated an audience through energetic performances and a catchy, genre-blending approach. Their breakthrough arrived in 2013 via the full-length debut American Love, propelled by the single "We Can Roll," which led the album to the top of digital streaming R&B charts and a number 12 placement on the Billboard R&B Albums chart. Additional honors soon followed, among them a win at the 2014 Boston Music Awards and a spot on the Vans Warped Tour.

Having performed together for five years as Eclectic Collective by around 2007, vocalist Dua Boayke, guitarists Santi Araujo and Salim Akram, bassist Graham Masser, and drummer Sheel Dave chose to regroup with a plan to apply a rock sensibility to retro R&B. They issued a set of self-released demos in 2008 before tracking their initial official outing, the seven-song Stick Up Kids EP. This paved the way for high-profile shows alongside John Legend, Common, Passion Pit, and Wu-Tang Clan, plus a run on the Vans Warped Tour. An encounter with Bay Area producer B. Lewis at one performance sparked their collaboration on the 2013 debut LP American Love. The resulting fusion of funky R&B and hard rock proved effective, driving the album to number one on digital streaming R&B charts while securing a sold-out tour, appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Arsenio Hall Show, and a return engagement with the Vans Warped Tour. The acoustic EP Dusted surfaced in 2014, with the sophomore full-length American Nightmare arriving two years later. Bad Rabbits issued their third album, Mimi, in 2018, highlighted by the single "F on the J-O-B."