Dante Basco shares how he learned that Hook inspired Skrillex to create the hit song Bangarang. Now, for fans of the EDM producer and of the 1991 film, this comes as no surprise. But in a sit-down with Comicbook.com, the actor broke down how Skrillex personally told him about making the giant track. The musician even won a Grammy Award for the track in the Best Dance Recording category. None of that would have been possible without the Lost Boys and Rufio. Basco talked to us about a number of topics while promoting the new season of the Twitch series Artificial. He plays a childhood friend of the main character that will probably trigger some great memories for fans of his work. But, he couldn’t have dreamed of having musicians pay tribute to his work all these years later.
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“That’s another thing, with Rufio… When Skrillex dropped the Bangarang track, again another thing in pop culture that’s just like, “How did that happen?” And I actually knew Sonny, Skrillex, when we were young before I went up to this position. And we ran in different circles, and I knew his brother,” Basco explains. “And then I ran into him when that song was out, at the Paramount Grammy party. So he ran into me again and is like explaining to his manager, “This is the guy I did the song for, like this is the reason for Bangarang.” And I’m like, wow. It’s so interesting to see how pop culture is connected and how things work, and how the work that we do… All of our work kind of connects to everyone else’s work and vice versa.”
CB: Yeah at 15 you could’ve never imagined right? It was probably in like your wildest dreams, “Dude, that’s going to be this crazy song.” That starts off the biggest EDM song of the era. It’s nuts! And as a hip-hop guy too, that must be really crazy as well because that’s not even a lane you were probably aiming for back then, right?
No, no, exactly, exactly. I love it. As a hip-hop dude, as you know, it has affected my life and career. I grew up, I’m a hip-hop artist that’s grown up, even though I’m not doing music right now. But when you get shout-outs from people like Drake or from Chance or even other classics in pop or hip-hop music, they’re shouting out Rufio or Zuko, and you’re like, “Wow, that’s so fascinating.” So then you can make it into a rap song or something like that. It’s pretty cool.
Check out Dante Basco in Artificial on Twitch, a live audience-interactive scripted sci-fi series following an A.I. being on a journey to become human. It airs every Thurs. at 5pm PT / 8pm ET on Twitch. (Check out the show page here.)
Have you watched Hook during lockdown? Let us know down in the comments!
