Bluegrass, Newgrass & Hip Hop
Recently I had a conversation with a friend of mine who prefers Hip Hop to Bluegrass and I felt the dialog was worth sharing, since most of us have friends who might not know what all Newgrass has to offer.
I think the first thing to note is that Newgrass is not necessarily traditional Bluegrass. While Newgrass is definately kin to Bluegrass, the lines between genres are blurring. Our generation is taking our grandparents’ traditional bluegrass music and evolving it into something new and exciting. Much like traditional bluegrass chronicled the lives of mountain folk before us, Newgrass communicates the struggles and accomplishments of today’s culture, while taking into account the cultural influences we experience day to day-which includes Hip Hop among many other genres of music.
One doesn’t have to look far for these influences. Check out the chart topping Newgrass band, The Carolina Chocolate Drops’ take on the song “Hit ’em up style”.
NEW GRASS MAGAZINE 