BUTCHER BROWN SET TO LIGHT UP 2024 ACC MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT WITH HALFTIME SHOW PERFORMANCE
Acclaimed Richmond Ensemble To Perform ESPN/ACC Network Anthem “Down With the King” Thursday, March 14 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC
Listen to “Down With the King” by Butcher Brown HERE
Watch Butcher Brown’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert
March 13, 2024 – Acclaimed jazz/hip-hop collective Butcher Brown and ACC Network teamed up to create a pulsating anthem for the 2024 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Virginia-bred group’s modern take on Run-DMC’s 1993 classic “Down With the King” released in January and aired throughout ACCN’s coverage of the men’s basketball season.
The collaboration will come full circle on Thursday, March 14 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC when Butcher Brown hits the court to perform “Down With the King” live during the halftime of the 7 PM quarterfinal game. Tune into the network’s weekday afternoon program, ACC PM, for a special appearance by Butcher Brown at 5:45 PM. Those in the stands will also enjoy Butcher Brown’s rendition of the national anthem prior to tipoff.
Butcher Brown’s take on “Down With the King” pays homage to the history of the ACC tournament and its importance to fans and players alike as they look to ‘Bring It Home’. Watch the promotional spot, which highlights the remixed single of “Down With the King” by Butcher Brown featuring a fresh verse from Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels of legendary hip-hop group Run-DMC.
“Having this opportunity to recreate a classic by Run-DMC and Pete Rock is a huge deal to this band because that’s the Mount Rushmore of rap music. It was a huge deal that Darryl wanted to join the remix, and something we never saw coming,” said Butcher Brown drummer Corey Fonville. “It was a pivotal moment in time for Run-DMC when ‘Down With The King’ dropped in the 90s. It’s an important song, and because the original was already so amazing, we felt the pressure to recreate it in a new way. It’s been a treat to go down that rabbit hole and tap in with that era of music.”
Fonville continues, “Collaborating again with the ACC, especially ACC college hoops, means a lot to all of us. Being from Virginia, we grew up watching the big games like Duke vs. UNC and the ACC tournament. We’re ultra hype for people to hear the remix live on Thursday at the quarterfinals.”
“Down With the King” marks the group’s second collaboration with ESPN, following the successful initiative that saw the group’s modernized single of Little Richard’s “Rip it Up” serve as the pre-kickoff hype song for Monday Night Football’s 50th anniversary season in 2020.
The single and tournament collaboration come on the heels of Butcher Brown’s recent NPR Tiny Desk performance and the group’s critically lauded new album Solar Music. Released in October 2023 via Concord Jazz, Solar Music took the top spot on the College Radio Hip-Hop chart and reached number 8 on the Billboard 200 Contemporary Jazz Chart, garnering praise from national outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Fader. The new music inspired acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. The UK’s Clash Magazine called it “a wicked performance – tight, assured, and forward-facing, it’s also a nod to the lineage Butcher Brown operate in,” while NPR Music said that “The ‘solar music’ Butcher Brown brought to Tiny Desk was hot and funky from the count-in… Butcher Brown brings it every time.”
About Butcher Brown:
Butcher Brown, a multifaceted band from Richmond, Virginia, includes friends and bandmates Corey Fonville (drums), Andrew Randazzo (bass), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Marcus “Tennishu” Tenney (trumpet, saxophone, vocals), and Devonne “DJ Harrison” Harris (keyboard, multi-instrumentalist). Their music is a seamlessly blended amalgam of sounds including jazz, hip-hop, rock, funk, R&B, alternative, soul, country, house, bossa nova, pop, and more. For more information, visit butcherbrown.com.
About ACC Network:
Owned and operated by ESPN in partnership with the Atlantic Coast Conference, ACC Network (ACCN) and its digital platform ACCNX is a 24/7 national network dedicated to ACC sports that launched on August 22, 2019. ACCN televises more than 500 regular-season and tournament games from across the conference’s 27 sponsored sports plus a complement of news and information shows and original programming. Together, ACCN and its digital platform, ACCNX, combine to feature more than 1,500 ACC events each year. ESPN has been televising ACC content since 1979 and has exclusive rights to every conference-controlled game across all sports and championships. All ACCN games are also available on the ESPN App with TV Everywhere credentials.
