UK grime "Godfather" Skepta has come through with a new remix of Jamie xx's "Song of the Summer," "I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times)," featuring dancehall star Popcaan and leading Atlanta slime, Young Thug. Also on the remix is Frisco, a member of Skepta's Boy Better Know crew.
Snippets of the new remix have surfaced recently, such as on an August episode of Drake's OVO Sound Radio, and then again during Jamie's Boiler Room set in New York, but the version played by Annie Mac last night (Sept. 28) on BBC Radio 1 is being donned the official remix.
The "Good Times (Remix)" was named Annie Mac's "Hottest Record." The song begins with a sped-up version of the original, as the 808s are boosted to make it more friendly for two tough verses from Skepta and Frisco. Though most every track put out by the Boy Better Know emcees will be in-your-face, their bars here don't take away from the summery lightness of the original "Good Times." The new version goes even harder in the club and will likely keep the "Good Times" melody around well into the fall season.
Only Popcaan, and not Young Thug, appears on the new remix -- probably because Skepta and Thugger have wildly different rapping styles. Even so, it would be interesting to hear them collaborate.
Listen below.
After Annie Mac played out the whole record, she got on a call with Jamie xx, who, at the time, said he was in London working on a new album with his band, The xx. Jamie then told Mac that he had wanted to record many different versions of "Good Times" with different emcees, but Skepta called him first. The producer had so much respect for Skepta's own grime instrumentals that he ended up letting him create the entire remix himself.
Jamie then spoke on the original and said that, surprisingly, both Popcaan and Young Thug sent back their "Good Times" recordings days after he had sent them the production.
The video of the original song arrived yesterday. Watch here.
