Doc Brown x Tony Bones The Producer - Jokes (Official Video)
Multi-faceted, critically acclaimed actor, comedian, screenwriter and songwriter Ben Bailey Smith, aka Doc Brown, a torchbearer for UK Rap, returns to the sound sphere with brand new single “Jokes”, produced by renowned beatmaker Tony Bones The Producer. The song is the first single to be taken from the pair’s highly anticipated joint project Do More, Say Less, due for release 18th October 2024.
Continuing to set the benchmark of what’s possible across the creative arts, having first burst onto the scene in 2005 with his infamous Friday Night Live events at the Deal Real Records store on the Carnaby Street of the early 2000s - and subsequent involvement in Mark Ronson’s live collective alongside the likes of Amy Winehouse, Santigold and Lily Allen - Doc returns to his first love and calling with a slew of brand-new releases and an electric new body of work.
The first taster from his upcoming album, “Jokes” serves as a vivid re-introduction into Doc’s current setup as a musician-turned-comedian, delivering a flow and lyricism honed by years of prowess. Floating Golden-era rap instrumentals from album collaborator Tony Bones lays a perfect bed for Brown to assert his stature and persona as one of the UK’s bonafide underground icons with the kind of effortless style and authority that has made him such a celebrated figure in the UK landscape.
Growing up surrounded by music, Doc’s artform morphed from the underground into the Grime and Road Rap scenes of the early 2000s. Through the underground battle, mixtape and open mic scene, Doc was unwittingly honing skills that he would transfer to Stand Up Comedy in 2008. Stand Up led to acting, with Doc starring in over 60 TV shows and Movies including Star Wars: Andor, The Split, Cinderella, Boiling Point, The Sixth Commandment and the forthcoming series of Black Mirror set to release in 2025. On many productions Doc Brown either performed or composed song lyrics, subsequently creating a business making music for TV and Film, forming his company Bust-A-Gut Productions in 2011.
In 2015 Doc met Razorlight’s Andy Burrows whilst writing with Ricky Gervais on the movie David Brent: Life on the Road; helping write various songs for the soundtrack leading to collaborations between the pair ever since, releasing their first official collaboration “Light Your Way” in 2021. The following year, they composed a bespoke piece for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee which Doc performed at Buckingham Palace.
With critical tastemaker attention already coming from the likes of THE GUARDIAN, THE TIMES and BBC, the East London native is set to garner a huge amount of attention with this first body of work since 2017’s widely acclaimed Stemma album, which included hugely powerful singles “Corruptible” and “Lights Out” — arguably Doc’s most popular and important tracks so far.
Paying his tribute to a cross-cultural scene that helped shape his worldview and musical mindset, “Jokes” sense of fun, its natural instinct to collaborate and to create are key – they are also the characteristics that have furnished Doc Brown’s own rise into the upper echelons of UK musical influence, and a small part of its history forever.
Bournemouth/ London-based Tony Bones is an acclaimed producer who merges together his passion for hip-hop with early influences of blues, progressive rock and soul to create unique and innovative sounds. As one third of the Jungle Brown collective, Bones is the mastermind behind their production and mixes the majority of songs himself. Collectively they have toured across Europe and shut down crowds at major festivals such as Glastonbury, Boomtown & LOVEBOX. As well as releasing music with Jungle Brown, Bones’ solo material has garnered over 5M streams across DSP’s and has produced for a slew of artists including Che Lingo — landing big sync placements for FIFA, NBA2k and the film series, The Gentlemen.