The hip-hop/bluegrass mashup known as Gangstagrass has been nominated for an Emmy.
The Gangstagrass track Long Hard Times To Come serves as the theme song to the FX series Justified. The track has been nominated for an Emmy in the category Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. Emmy winners will be announced on August 29, 2010, so we won’t know until then if the unique blend of hip-hop and bluegrass will take home the prize. Similar to other awards programs, there are five finalists in each category.
Rench and Tone-Z, the principle musical forces behind, were not expecting such recognition.
“I am excited that Justified is getting recognized with an Emmy nomination for having a great theme song. The show took a leap and used Gangstagrass, and it is great to see them rewarded for taking a chance on something creative and unusual. T.O.N.E-z and I are still in shock that we are Emmy nominated.” – Oscar “Rench” Owens
Long Hard Times To Come was produced for use in TV show, but Rench and Tone-Z also teamed up to produce a full length CD of bluegrass/hip-hop music. The CD is titled Gangstagrass: Lighting On The Strings, Thunder On The Mic. If you’re interested, check it out, but be warned, this isn’t your grandmother’s bluegrass!
Read our previous post about the CD for audio samples and some comments directly from the producer.