Looking ahead to the new year, I look back to some historical quotes on the subject of Gangstagrass:
“NOOOOOOO….this sort of eclecticism” is simply mashing together two styles that are, shall we say, culturally deprived. In other words, a combination of two “lowest common denominator” styles. Bluegrass is rigidly stuck in the banjo fingerpicking style that allows no original variations on the same pull-off and hammer-on licks that have dominated that genre for nearly a century. The only way that practitioners have of proving their competence is not by coming up with unique melodic and harmonic ideas, but simply playing the same old licks at ever increasing speeds. And hip hop is deliberately handicapped by refusal of any sort of consciousness of musical or literary form. Verse-chorus is not a heavily practiced form within it, and any sort of poetic structure seems to go by the wayside in favor of ever-decreasing literary subtlety. And original musical ideas? The prevalence of “beat-making” by stringing together pre-composed and already public fragments of rhythm should disabuse you of that. While I wouldn’t be such a cultural Philistine is to claim that this sort of thing is not music, I stand firm on my conception that the reason the two styles work together so well is that they are both formats made to appeal to the least sophisticated listeners out there.” — Robertm
“I am not about to offer people MC Hammer meets Hee-Haw.” — Rench
Happy 2014, and here’s hoping that we will change your mind about bluegrass, hip-hop, and everything in between!