40 Thieves aim to bring hip-hop, good times
Published April 20, 2007
When people think hip-hop, generally they don't think of Bob Dylan.
But Columbia hip-hop duo The 40 Thieves does. On the Million Dollar Bash compilation, a CD of Dylan covers performed by local artists and released on Columbia-based indie label Home Tone Records, The 40 Thieves decided to turn "Subterranean Homesick Blues" into a hip-hop track. Group member Adam Speer said they chose the song because its verse and rhyming structure is similar to hip-hop.
"We chose the song because it most closely resembles hip-hop with the way Dylan spoke the verses," Speer said. "He made it a spoken kind of verse, and there's really no choruses in the song. There's pretty much this fast, rhythmic verse and the breakdown. We thought it would be good with that, and I think people can still listen to those lyrics and be drawn, and they can be relevant as they were 30 years ago."
According to the group's MySpace.com page, The 40 Thieves formed in 2003 as a hip-hop backing band for open mic and poetry slam events in the area and eventually formed a group called Cowboy Ninja Robot.
As the group progressed, The 40 Thieves began to write both instrumental tracks and tracks with lyrics — the former are performed live by guest emcees including Columbia's Steddy P.
"We have a few vocalists who play with us every time, and we have a few guest emcees from the local hip-hop scene," Speer said. "As a band, it became more of a showcase for local emcees."
The 40 Thieves keep their showcase for local hip-hop artists going at their live shows by bringing opening acts on stage to perform during their sets.
"We also really like to bring people who are playing on the same show as us up on stage to freestyle with us," Speer said. "We have some instrumental tracks set aside for them that are really good for free-styling, and that's always a crowd-pleaser when we do that. At times, we've had five or six people on stage at one time doing a freestyle."
Speer said hip-hop is successful in Columbia because the city is a fertile ground for music and hip-hop has an ability to reach audiences of all regions and backgrounds.
"It's just everywhere, and I think it's music that we've all grown up on," Speer said. "I know as a kid I listened to MC Hammer and Snoop Doggy Dogg and Dr. Dre, and we just love the music and respond to it, and I think the kids in Columbia have had the same kind of background with it and respond to it in the same way."
Speer said it made sense for a Midwest college town such as Columbia to be a welcoming environment for hip-hop because the lyrical style that is prevalent within the local scene registers the most with this demographic.
"That just has to do with Columbia being a college town and the lyrics that are in that underground genre," Speer said. "They're not what you would hear on the radio. It's not all about materialism and sexism and things like that. It has songs with lyrics about what we deal with every day and things that are happening in the world and about living in the Midwest."
In addition to consistent live performances, the group will release an album, Grass is Greener, on May 11.
The group will take the stage with a congregation of other local hip-hop acts tonight at Mojo's.
"We're going to play some new songs," Speer said. "We've got a special guest appearance by Missouri City Diamonds, which is a side project of The 40 Thieves. Steddy P will be there, and 40 'til 5 will be there."
Speer said the audience should come to their show expecting a fun, laid-back atmosphere.
"It should be a good time, a good time for dancing," Speer said. "It's not going to be a pretentious kind of show at all, and everybody who comes to a 40 Thieves show is all about having a good time."