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Event
GENIASS PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS: Gangstagrass & The Ville Boyz & Turbo Pro Project
GENIASS PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS:
AN EVENING OF HIP HOP INFUSED WITH BLUEGRASS
FEATURING GANGSTAGRASS & THE VILLE BOYZ
w/ TURBO PRO PROJECT TO OPEN
@ STELLA BLUE (UPSTAIRS)
FRIDAY APRIL 22, 2011 @ 9PM
GANGSTAGRASS:
Sometimes you just know what has to be done and you can't put it off any longer. History has to be made and there is no other way than to just jump in the deep end and go all out. In the Summer of 2007, Brookly based producer, singer and songwriter Rench was at just such a crossroads. He had been producting honky-tonk infused trip-hop albums of his own material for several years, and had also developed a stable of NYC hip hop emcees that came to him to record their albums. And a little idea had been nagging at him: take the rap vocals, add beats, and use classic bluegrass for all the instrumentation. Call it Gangstagrass.
So Rench took the dive. He cancelled all other plans and spend the next month sequestered in his basement studio, several boxes from his classic bluegrass album collection by his side. The rappers he had worked with had no idea about the likes of Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe or the Carter Family, but agreed anyway to let Rench use their tracks. he emerged with waht is now known as "Gangstagrass Volume I," a 22 track epic album of heavy hip hop rhymes perfectly blended with oldtime banjo riffs and bluesy dobro slides as though it was teh result of a realtime jam session Rench promptly offered the whole album as a free download. Over the next two years word of the album spread, and the word was this: you may not think Country music and hip hop music could go together. Think again.
Hundreds of thousands of downloads later, Gangstagrass was clawingits way onto the American musical landscape. In early 2010,
the free album got into the hands of the producers of a new FX
show titled "Justified." The show follows Deputy U.S. Marshal
Raylan Givens(Timothy Olyphant), who is a throwback law man,
complete with a Stetson hat, cowboy boots, and a semiautomatic
pistol in his hip holster. The producers felt that Rench's music fit
the "Wild West meets modern day society" theme of the show, and
asked Rench to create a new Gangstagrass track for the show's opening theme music.
Rench worked with Bronx native and younger brother of early hiphop stars Special K and T LaRoc, T.O.N.E.z (an emcee featured on
several tracks of Gangstagrass Volume 1) to create "Long Hard
Times To Come" for the Justified theme song. But this time there
were to be no bluegrass samples the instrumentation would come from live bluegrass musicians. Rench assembled an all
star team of pickers to join him at his Brooklyn studio and
re-create the Gangstagrass sound, but the live instrumentation
far surpassed what Rench had made before. The hip hop
bluegrass hybrid had been taken all the way.
Work began immediately on a full length album featuring the fullon, no holds barred sound of hot bluegrass (Matt Check on banjo,
Todd Livingston on dobro, Jason Cade on fiddle) and T.O.N.E.z's
raw Bronx rhymes. In May 2010 the album "Lightning On The
Strings, Thunder On The Mic" was released to the eager ears of
fans across the country who had searched out the makers of
Justified's theme song. A few months later, "Long Hard Times To
Come" was recognized with an Emmy nomination (Outstanding
Original Main Title Theme Music), and the cat was out of the bag.
Gangstagrass had staked its claim in the American musical
landscape.
Although country music and hiphop are perceived to be
diametrically opposed music styles, the appeal of Gangstagrass is easy to understand. Gangstagrass was born out of a sincere
love for good music and a "I just don't give a fuck" attitude
towards sonic boundaries. As a kid growing up in Southern
California, Rench spent recess breakdancing to Run DMC on
cardboard boxes and evenings hearing his father's country and
bluegrass records. And he found that he is not alone in his
appreciation of both.
Gangstagrass is not just for big hip hop or country fans, it is also
for fans of good music of all types, who aren't afraid to transcend
the habit of musical segregation. Gangstagrass is true blue
American music that is here to stay.
www.gangstagrass.com
check out a video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXKSuHuYslU
THE VILLE BOYZ:
A hip hop group local to Asheville, the Ville Boyz like venting their feelings through the form of rap. They play shows, get the crowd hella krunk, make mistakes, learn from em, go to sleep, wake up & try it all over again. They recently had the honor of opening for Ice Cube at the Orange Peel in Asheville.
www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ville-Boyz/155397011182362
TURBO PRO PROJECT: "Banjo Hip Hop Fusion"
Adrian "Turbo" Trbovich was a member of Laura Love's Harper Ferry Band at Wintergrass, and his adroit banjo playing helped contribute to the band's vibrant sound. Turbo's Turbo Pro Project band features his "banjo hip hop fusion" music.
Other band members include Chris "DJ Pro" Prear who manages the turntables sound in the band, Aaron Soots "the Rhythm Machine" on guitar, Kenn Smith on bass, Milton "DJ Deacon" Cockerham on beats and turntables, and Ryan "RnB" Barber on keyboards.
The word "fusion" is the key word to this band. A heavy rhythm backdrop is punctuated by keyboard notes and heavy metal banjo. Turbo has an electric Deering banjo and his fluid playing makes "Cluck Old Hen" sound supercharged on chicken fuel. The melody is played simply and then all the other instruments are layered on top of the banjo until the whole tune vibrates with rhythm.
"Floo-id" begins with the banjo laying down a melody line with the guitar and keyboards joining in a fluid romp through counter rhythms and melodies. Kenn Smith's "Why do I Tripp?" has keyboards and bass in flight punctuated with some "ha ha ha ha" vocalizations. "Turntables vs. Banjo" turns the old Arthur Smith "Dueling Banjos" into a musical fantasia interlaced with an ongoing mantra - "to attack without knowing the enemy's strength is foolish." Turbo Pro Project has propelled the banjo into a new frontier!
www.turboproproject.com/music.html
check out a video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzWx-AiwcUI
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LocationStella Blue
31 Patton Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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