At first thought, the idea of mixing hip-hop and bluegrass and country music seems fairly ludicrous. Even though the hitmakers in Nashville have been doing this kind of thing in appalling fashion in recent years as part of their effort to pander to the mainstream, a true mix that does all genres proper justice seems difficult to come by. Enter Gangstagrass, a band of musicians and MCs who have spent close to a decade doing just that. Helmed by a fella who goes by the name of Rench, the Brooklyn group brings together rappers and pickers to create music as steeped in Appalachia as it is in beats and lyrical flow. The idea of this may strike some as silly and kind of novel, but if you happened to catch Gangstagrass at Dante’s in Portland, Oregon on Saturday, September 2nd you were hip to the fact that their music is anything but silly.
These days Gangstagrass bill themselves as “multiracial genre-crossing hip-hop-bluegrass”, and their set in Portland definitely lived up to the descriptor. The band opened up with the banjo-heavy “I Go Hard”, a hard-hitting song that set the vibe for what was to come. The tune featured R-Son the Voice of Reason and Dolio The Sleuth lashing out with lyrical truth bombs that balanced social awareness with gangsta rap beats. With everyone in the proper mindset, the band jumped into their colorful take on the classic hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, with Dobro master Landry McMeans lending her own soulful vocal prowess to the chorus. There is perhaps no song that drew more attention to bluegrass in the last two decades than “Man of Constant Sorrow” with the help of the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou, and under the skillful styling of Gangstagrass it featured Rench singing the high and lonesome chorus accompanied by a crunk beat and sick flow on the part of R-Son and Dolio, both of whom cheerfully embraced its historical context.
In the live setting, many of Gangstagrass’ tunes came across like upbeat country-hop anthems that invited the audience to join in on the fun. From the lonesome country sound of “You Can Never Go Home Again” and “Long Hard Times to Come” – a song that put them on the map when it was used as the theme song for the show Justified – to the laid back bouncy beat of “Gunslinging Rambler”, there was a sense of true audience participation and hype that can be found at the best hip-hop shows. The pinnacle of the sing-a-long fun came during the rowdy “Two Yards”, with R-Son riling up the crowd to join in on the “kiss my ass motherfucker” chorus.
By the end of their set the members of Gangstagrass succeeded in igniting a full on dance party and showing that the melding of hip-hop and bluegrass can be done proper. Their set featured all the best attributes of both styles of music: top notch musicianship with the occasional jam, lively harmonies, and two MCs at the top of their game dropping rhymes and keeping the crowd fully hyped. In other words, they are an act not to be missed.
