BROOKLYN, NY- If you think country rap started with Lil Nas X, tsk tsk tsk… Someone hasn’t been doing their due diligence.
Music historians and Wikipedia say that rap in country music can be traced all the way back to 1961 with the talking blues of Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John”. Over time, a lot of modern music acts have tried to tow the artist country/hip hop line, some successfully (Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly on 2012’s “Cruise (Remix)”, unsuccessfully (Brad Paisley and LL Cool J’s “Accidental Racist”) and some just for fun (Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson’s “Superman”). But whether or not those collaborations topped charts, there’s only one country rap act right now that’s really setting the bar in today’s music market: Ganstagrass.
Gangstagrass is a musical collective based out of New York City that combines bluegrass and rap, to create a wholly new kind of sound. With a banjo and fiddle jamming away as scratches fill the holes, and smooth raps telling a story, it’s a truly unique sound. So unique that their song “Long Hard Time To Come” was chosen to be the opening theme song to the much-heralded TV show Justified on FX, which earned the group an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Original Maint Title Theme Music.
Gangstagrass recently released a live album, Pocket Full Of Fire, but this performance of their song “Peaches”, which features R-SON The Voice Of Reason rapping and special guest Megan Hopkins singing the hook is special bonus material that they decided to put out on the interwebs for their fans
Gangstagrass is currently on your playing a series of dates that have them playing venues throughout California before they head back to the east coast for shows in Washington D.C., Syracuse and Oswego before they head back home to NYC. Check their socials for tickets!
Follow GANGSTAGRASS on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
