GANGSTAGRASS

- Hidden deep beneath the Cumberland Mountains in Grundy County, Tennessee, lies one of the world's most magical, musical adventures.

The Caverns Sessions, 3 million years in the making, pure acoustics, offer music from the heart of the American experience.

Center stage and deep inside the mountain.

This week, Gangstagrass.

♪ ...and you know I'm bound to ride... ♪ - It's deep down musical diversity, with the Caverns Sessions, coming up next.

(crowd cheers and applauds) (funky bluegrass) ♪ Last night I saw a bright red comet in the sky ♪ ♪ I asked for its purpose, and it gave me a reply ♪ ♪ It said, soon come the day massa die ♪ ♪ But first you must prepare, keep your eyes on the prize ♪ ♪ Through the beat of the drum, by the light of the fire ♪ ♪ We decide to be free as a bird when it flies ♪ ♪ So we ready every axe, and we sharpen every knife ♪ ♪ Get our people inside ready and willing to take a life ♪ ♪ There are none worth saving, we'll be soon done slaving ♪ ♪ For now we must behave as usual while we're making ♪ ♪ Our plan to reach the promised land of liberation ♪ ♪ We'll be breaking chains before the beast dem awaken ♪ ♪ Watch the houses ablaze with flames before they cave in ♪ ♪ No more will our pleas to the sky be forsaken ♪ ♪ All praises due there'll be much celebration ♪ ♪ Plantation will be gone by the day's end ♪ ♪ Ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom, ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom, ♪ ♪ I'm gonna take this axe, and plant it in yo' back ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom... ♪ ♪ Check it ♪ ♪ Time to be about the challenge ♪ ♪ Sitting at the counter to create some counter balance ♪ ♪ Broken windows, folks doing damage ♪ ♪ Just to keep a black man from having a sandwich ♪ ♪ Not even that dang famished ♪ ♪ Promising Dr. King, hoping I can manage ♪ ♪ To keep it peaceful in the midst of this evil ♪ ♪ It's too much to take, dang it, I can't stand it ♪ ♪ Might be time to go another route ♪ ♪ Here come the pigs trying to drag a brother out ♪ ♪ Coming with the cuffs but man I had enough ♪ ♪ So that fist-in-the-air just punched him in the mouth ♪ ♪ Running through the South fleeing for my life ♪ ♪ Fighting against wrongs 'cause we're needing our rights ♪ ♪ But even passing laws ain't enough for y'all ♪ ♪ Whose souls are too dark to even see the light, so I ♪ ♪ Ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom ♪ ♪ We started on this march now we gonna tear this mess apart ♪ ♪ Come one ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom... c'mon ♪ (fiddle music) (fiddle music) ♪ Learned from the past, there'll be no more marching ♪ ♪ The demons the same as the day that he darkened ♪ ♪ The shores of our precious, blessed mother continent ♪ ♪ Stole our ancestors and put them on the market ♪ ♪ They stayed fanning the flames that they sparked ♪ ♪ With the evil intentions they've had from the start ♪ ♪ If we still have to fight, then we'll tear this apart ♪ ♪ and peace will be found with a spear through the heart ♪ ♪ Another plan is a brother man in power positions ♪ ♪ Sisters in greater control of our conditions ♪ ♪ Even when it happens I doubt you're going to listen ♪ ♪ But consider yourself somehow a Christian ♪ ♪ Now I'm on a mission to take these levels tilted ♪ ♪ Straighten it out for all my brothers that built it ♪ ♪ Don't care whether or not guilt you feel it's ♪ ♪ Not going to keep us from the freedom we will get ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom, ♪ ♪ That's right, I said ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom, ♪ ♪ We take this system and we kill it ♪ ♪ Then we fix it and rebuild it, 'cause I ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom, ♪ ♪ No I'm not, I said I, ♪ ♪ Ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom!

♪ ♪ You dang right ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more ♪ ♪ Come one ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more ♪ ♪ No sir ♪ ♪ I ain't gonna wait no more to get this freedom!

♪ ♪ That's why I write freedom songs for the sake of my fam.

♪ - Yes!

(crowd cheering) - Gangstagrass in the building, y'all.

Or in the cave, as it were.

(cheering and applause) (driving country beat) ♪ The way I look ♪ ♪ The clothes I wear ♪ ♪ The way I talk, the way I walk ♪ ♪ The way I do my hair ♪ ♪ You see me in the street ♪ ♪ Don't know why I'm here ♪ ♪ I don't owe you any explanation ♪ ♪ But let me make one thing clear... ♪ ♪ You may not like it and you may not understand... ♪ ♪ But I am what I am... ♪ ♪ You may not like it and you may not understand... ♪ ♪ But I am what I am... ♪ ♪ I'm a fire-breathing thunderclap ♪ ♪ Slip and end up vaporized ♪ ♪ The silver lining of this cloud ♪ ♪ Is something that's electrified ♪ ♪ Strike and leave you petrified ♪ ♪ Sharp enough to catch the eye ♪ ♪ Can't deny the flavor with these rhymes up in your face ♪ ♪ Cause I'm a six-foot, axe-wielding ♪ ♪ Lumberjack to chop a tree ♪ ♪ Pay attention to the words you say ♪ ♪ Whenever you talk to me ♪ ♪ Cool calm collected, 'cause the fire isn't what you see ♪ ♪ Unless you give it fuel enough to burn you up properly ♪ ♪ I am what I am, I'ma be what I'ma be ♪ ♪ The realization of my ancestors every wildest dream ♪ ♪ Boiling kettle full of steam, high powered laser beam ♪ ♪ Wanna find out what it means ♪ ♪ Then catch it when I split ya bean ♪ ♪ Kick it mean wicked team ♪ ♪ Break it on down when I hit the scene ♪ ♪ Flip this thing, get this green ♪ ♪ Nickel-slick and crispy clean ♪ ♪ Spit this thing, shine it on up for the silky sheen ♪ ♪ Heavyweight bang when I tip that beam ♪ ♪ Ain't no in between, na mean ♪ ♪ You may not like it and you may not understand... ♪ ♪ But I am what I am... ♪ ♪ You may not like it and you may not understand... ♪ ♪ But I am what I am... ♪ ♪ I am, what I am (what I am) ♪ ♪ I am, what I am (what I am) ♪ ♪ I am what I am (what I am) ♪ ♪ What I am, (what I am) ♪ ♪ I'm coconut scented with mango flav ♪ ♪ The beat bangs while the banjo plays ♪ ♪ On a mission for substantial papes ♪ ♪ To lay up on a vacay in St Tropez ♪ ♪ My lady sipping the Tanqueray, pass me the OJ ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's the time that I rule the world like Coldplay ♪ ♪ Trust me I don't play.

Really?

You don't say ♪ ♪ I'm not sure you know who you messin' with snowflake ♪ ♪ Buttery as Land o' Lakes ♪ ♪ Hair blowing in the breeze like Lando's cape ♪ ♪ Make sure you get your mans on tape ♪ ♪ 'Cause you don't want to miss ♪ ♪ A single word that Ran's gon' say ♪ ♪ You're just a gram o' weight ♪ ♪ I'm bringing tons of fun ♪ ♪ like Christmas Eve on Santa's sleigh, (ho ho ho) ♪ ♪ Quit slouching boy, stand up straight ♪ ♪ I'm here to free your mind free, emancipate, c'mon!

♪ (Bluegrass music) (Bluegrass music) (Bluegrass music) (Bluegrass music) (Bluegrass music) - All right, help us out y'all ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ - In the back!

♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ ♪ I am, I am what I am ♪ - Keep it going, the whole crew.

(chant continuing) - Everybody in the Caverns!

♪ You may not like it and you may not understand ♪ ♪ But I am, what I am... ♪ ♪ Not what you expected and not the way you planned... ♪ ♪ But I am, what I am ♪ ♪ Bad mamma-jamma in a bad mood ♪ ♪ You can get your eyeballs tattooed ♪ ♪ Not a stereotype type Black dude ♪ ♪ Lion in the winter, you cowards is cat food ♪ ♪ Lemme on in I'm a rock this town ♪ ♪ Set it on up lemme knock it down ♪ ♪ Shocking sound, drop them clowns ♪ ♪ When we in the spot then we lock it down ♪ ♪ Rep Philly every longitude and latitude ♪ ♪ Place that raised me and gave me my attitude ♪ ♪ No placate, no platitude ♪ ♪ I send my city my undying gratitude ♪ ♪ Ain't a way you can knock get down ♪ ♪ Haters end up in the lost and found ♪ ♪ Runaway train, no brakes on the track ♪ ♪ You'll get laid out flat trying to stop it now ♪ ♪ Ain't a way you can knock this down ♪ ♪ Haters end up in the lost and found ♪ ♪ Shocking sound, drop them clowns ♪ ♪ When we in the spot then we lock it down ♪ ♪ I said ain't a way you can lock it down ♪ ♪ Haters end up in the lost and found ♪ ♪ Runaway train, no brakes on the track ♪ ♪ You'll get laid out flat trying to stop it now ♪ (cheering and applause) - Come on y'all!

- Come on y'all!

- Yeah!

(Bluegrass music) ♪ Hear that train come rollin'... ♪ ♪ And you know I'm bound to ride... ♪ ♪ I hear that train come rollin'... ♪ ♪ Gotta move on down the line... ♪ ♪ My mind can make Mount Everest out of a molehill ♪ ♪ No brand name game my budget is low frills ♪ ♪ The show skills are so ill, that after it's seen ♪ ♪ Then all of you need to be quarantined ♪ ♪ It's the Ronin of rhyme ♪ ♪ We following the samurai code ♪ ♪ But we don't take orders from the Shogun ♪ ♪ Maintaining independence like a slave on the lam ♪ ♪ So I'm writing freedom songs for the sake of my fam ♪ ♪ No mistaking Ran' for the norm, I'm above that ♪ ♪ This is the beginning the potential is untapped ♪ ♪ I rhyme for heads wondering where is the love at ♪ ♪ I rhyme to keep hip hop alive; fools just rap ♪ ♪ Cold as flakes of snow on arctic glaciers ♪ ♪ Try to copy my style like carbon paper ♪ ♪ The sub-zero nature of the words that I'm writing ♪ ♪ Will leave you hypothermic from all the frost-biting ♪ (up tempo music) ♪ I hear that train come rollin' ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ And you know I'm bound to ride... ♪ ♪ When the bow hits the fiddle, hear 'em give a little more ♪ ♪ Hear that train come rollin'... ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ And move on down the line ♪ ♪ They don't want war 'cause my brother's hardcore ♪ ♪ Still- on the bubble out the woods with the shiners ♪ ♪ Open up the tap and pour some stout over your cider ♪ ♪ I've got a heaping helping of some beef for you biters ♪ ♪ Sharpen your incisors, allow me to oblige ya ♪ ♪ Write a million pages trap and keep it in a binder ♪ ♪ Then paint a vivid picture over pristine primer ♪ ♪ Running with a shovel chasing rabbits out the briar ♪ ♪ Double up your trouble pouring fuel on the fire ♪ ♪ Your goose is cooked, hear the buzz on the timer ♪ ♪ Sunshine units clicking on your Geiger ♪ ♪ Sweet crude through the lyrical refiner ♪ ♪ Canary in the shaft sending warnings to the miners ♪ ♪ No sense in jumping in the pit with the tiger ♪ ♪ Go and practice up and get your flows a little tighter ♪ ♪ Tell me, what defines it - the freedom or the fighter ♪ ♪ Them crybabies defecating in their diapers ♪ (up tempo music) ♪ I hear that train come rollin'... ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ And you know I'm bound to ride... ♪ ♪ When the bow hits the fiddle, hear 'em give a little more ♪ ♪ Hear that train come rollin'... ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ Gotta move on down the line'... ♪ ♪ They don't want war 'cause my squad's hardcore ♪ ♪ Break it down ♪ (up tempo guitar) (up tempo music) (up tempo music) - That's B. Farrow with the fiddle, ladies and gentlemen.

(up tempo music) - That's Dan Whitener on the banjo, ladies and gentlemen.

(up tempo music) - That's Rench the Mastermind on the guitar, ladies and gentlemen.

♪ Hear that train come rollin' ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ And you know I'm bound to ride ♪ ♪ When the bow hits the fiddle, hear 'em give a little more ♪ ♪ Hear that train come rollin' ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ Gonna move on down the line... ♪ ♪ I say they don't want war 'cause my squad's hardcore ♪ ♪ (Yeah) Hear that train come rollin' ♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ And you know I'm bound to ride... ♪ ♪ When the bow hits the fiddle, hear 'em give a little more ♪ ♪ Hear that train come rollin'...

(yeah!)

♪ ♪ Soon as the beat drops, hear 'em stomp to the floor ♪ ♪ Gonna move on down the line... ♪ ♪ They say they don't want war, see these boys hardcore... ♪ (applause and cheering) - Yeah, yeah!

(driving bluegrass beat) ♪ Gangstagrass in The Caverns, what's up?

♪ ♪ Gangstagrass in The Caverns, what's up?

♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Can't get better than that ♪ ♪ Oh, we all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Can't get better than that ♪ ♪ Check the, raison d'etre is to make songs better ♪ ♪ And take on the effort of doing the utmost ♪ ♪ 'Cause way too many humans are cutthroat ♪ ♪ So much going on, they're doing just so ♪ ♪ They can get it in and get over on the next man ♪ ♪ I'm here to elevate and navigate like a sextant ♪ ♪ So we're cruising through the weather ♪ ♪ Anything you can do my crew can do it better ♪ ♪ Make songs for you to groove to forever ♪ ♪ Whatever units you use to measure ♪ ♪ Night after night, day after day ♪ ♪ You bet we get you lifted in the Gangstagrass way ♪ ♪ Aloha, Ashe, Namaste, Peace ♪ ♪ We giving y'all dap whatever way that we greet ♪ ♪ We stay on our feet in the face of defeat ♪ ♪ No surrender, the only thing that breaks is the beat, cause ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Can't get better than that ♪ - Come on y'all ♪ Yeah we all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Can't get better than that ♪ ♪ I said we all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ And you can't get better than that ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Yeah... the elders used to say ♪ ♪ That if you knew better you'd do better ♪ ♪ That's why we do it together ♪ ♪ The powers that be wish that me and you sever ♪ ♪ All ties that bind us to help us make it through ♪ ♪ Whether or not we've got paper stack ♪ ♪ Of really huge cheddar ♪ ♪ Or a bunch of certified alphabet soup letters ♪ ♪ We can collaborate, cooperate, on getting by ♪ ♪ Or build something substantial enough to lift us up ♪ ♪ High as one, the value of nation is increased ♪ ♪ By the virtue of the treatment ♪ ♪ It extends to the least of us ♪ ♪ Is the value of a life governed by the greedy ♪ ♪ Or determined to heal the sick and feed the needy ♪ ♪ If we reach to our neighbor ♪ ♪ When the storm is wreaking havoc ♪ ♪ Then we each have a better chance ♪ ♪ Of staving off the damage ♪ ♪ That's a demonstrated fact- come together as a pack ♪ ♪ And it ain't nothing wrong with that ♪ ♪ And that's that, c'mon ♪ ♪ 'Cause we all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Can't get better than that ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Ya can't get better than that ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Ya can't get better than that ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Ya can't get better than that ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Ya can't get better than that.

(Come on ya'll!)

♪ ♪ Said we all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ Ya can't get better than that.

(Everybody!)

♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ We can't get better than that ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ We can't get better than that ♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ I can't get better than that.

(Yes!)

♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ It can't get better than that ♪ - It's that simple.

♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ It can't get better than that.

(One more time.)

♪ ♪ We all do better when we all do better ♪ ♪ It can't get better than that ♪ (applause and cheering) - We are so happy to be here tonight.

We're so grateful that you're here to take that journey with us, and the things that we're bringing together here to mix this stuff together.

That gives us a lot of hope.

(applause and cheering) - 'Cause I think we can all start partying together.

- I think so.

- And then next thing you know, we might start talking together.

We might start listening, and that's gonna be important 'cause I know we got a lot of tough times ahead, and the way we're all gonna get through this is by having each other's backs, (crowd cheering) and sticking through it together.

- Thank you so much!

(cheering and applause) ♪ Of constant sorrow... all through his days... ♪ - Now look, don't front like you don't know the words!

Do not front!

I wanna hear everybody in here, let's go!

♪ I am a man of constant sorrow ♪ ♪ I've seen trouble all my days ♪ ♪ I bid farewell to old Kentucky... ♪ ♪ The place where I was born and raised ♪ - Come on y'all, everybody in here!

♪ The place where he was born and raised ♪ ♪ See I'm a product of my mom and pop's genetics ♪ ♪ Comic book collecting ♪ ♪ Saturday morning cartoons and natural selection ♪ ♪ After school detention, rejection as a freshman ♪ ♪ Dating white girls and facing their pop's aggression ♪ ♪ Tagged up cardboard, wind mills, head spins ♪ ♪ Derek, Bryan, Quincy, and Mike.

♪ ♪ They were my best friends ♪ ♪ Thought I was less than, in most cases greater ♪ ♪ Anyways success isn't graded with paper ♪ ♪ Blades of light sabers and games of Space Invaders ♪ ♪ Marathons of Sega, tried to rap at 16 ♪ ♪ Two cast in rich green, my pops and my brother ♪ ♪ October 21st, the day I lost my mother ♪ ♪ Missed opportunities and others taking from me ♪ ♪ The American dream and it's love of making money ♪ ♪ Complacency versus staying hungry ♪ ♪ And continuing the fight for freedom ♪ ♪ Inside this racist country ♪ ♪ It's fare thee well my old true lover ♪ ♪ I never expect to see you again... ♪ - C'mon ya'll!

♪ For I'm bound to ride that Northern Railroad... ♪ ♪ Perhaps I'll die upon that train...♪ - Yo, c'mon!

♪ Perhaps he'll die upon that train.

(Yeah) ♪ (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - One more time y'all, we are Gangstagrass!

(upbeat music) ♪ You can bury me in some deep valley... ♪ ♪ For many years where I may lay... ♪ ♪ Then you may learn to love another... ♪ ♪ While I am sleeping in my grave... ♪ ♪ (Jump) While he is sleeping in his grave ♪ - Make some noise for Dolio the Sleuth.

♪ If you remember anything I say above others ♪ ♪ Remember that the devil comes in more than one color ♪ ♪ And most times the color is green ♪ ♪ 'Cause the hell spawns up and recognize ♪ ♪ By the color of greed ♪ ♪ See the jealousy of other's trying to capture the Sleuth ♪ ♪ But I put them out the pasture with the rapper of truth ♪ ♪ See you can recognize and it can happen to you ♪ ♪ Look for the hatred in they eyes when they glancing at you ♪ ♪ Shake 'em off and keep moving, time waits for no man ♪ ♪ That's why I always stay with a place to go plan ♪ ♪ Heads stay forward, leave them snakes alone man ♪ ♪ They always on the chase, that's why they stay below ♪ ♪ And they never come up outta the dirt ♪ ♪ Though it hurts, don't it ♪ ♪ Make 'em sick when you're doing it first ♪ ♪ That's why I'm down with my team ♪ ♪ 'Cause we all about the struggle ♪ ♪ Stead of running with some clowns ♪ ♪ Trying to ride on my bubble, come on ♪ ♪ Maybe your friends think I'm just a stranger ♪ ♪ My face, you'll never see no more, (Oh no) ♪ ♪ But there is one promise that is given ♪ ♪ I'll meet you on God's golden shore... ♪ ♪ He'll meet you on God's golden shore... ♪ - Peace!

- Thank you so much!

We will be back!

- Thank you!

You're amazing, we love you!

- You're awesome!

(cheering and applause) ♪ ♪ ♪