Gangsta life chills at Halloween bash

Memphis rapper Project Pat headlines Halloween Bash.

With their oftentimes-brutal depictions of life on Memphis' tougher streets, the music of rapper Project Pat can seem like a horror story.

Take the portrait of drug warfare in "Gang Signs" from the recently released Loud Pack:

Fifty rounds, first will shoot you up, bullets going through.

Any car, ripping through the steel, cutting past leather. Mash down on this trigger like it was a gas pedal.

Blast better. Choppers in use, I'm a let loose. Blood leaking out your stomach mixed with that Grey Goose.

Was kind of spooked once them slugs whistled past your head. You heard the kiss of death, on life support, you at the MED

On Monday, the rapper, real name Patrick Houston, the brother of Three 6 Mafia's Juicy J and part of that Oscar-winning group's Hypnotized Minds stable of artists, will bring the chills of gangsta life to the stage at Halloween Bash 2011 at the New Daisy Theater. A co-production of Hypnotized Minds and Chicago-based Alwayz Grindin' Entertainment, the concert will also feature performances by Project Pat's label mate Lil Wyte and Chicago's C Hustle, Young Jimmy, Bizzie G, and Bama; as well as Memphis' Stan G Movez, Roxxy from Houston, and Young Chaos from the Bronx

"It's going to pretty much be a dance party with some performances," says C Hustle, aka, Alwayz Grindin' head Charles Braga. "We're going to do a Halloween costume contest. We're going to give away some prizes, some cash prizes, also. We're also going to be shooting a music video that night as well."

Alwayz Grindin' and Hypnotized Minds have actually been doing Halloween shows the past few years but never before in Memphis. Previous editions have been in Chicago and Davenport, Iowa.

The unlikely meeting of Memphis and Windy City rap styles came about through ink. An ex-Memphian working in Braga's Plainfield, Ill., tattoo parlor had also done ink for several of the Hypnotized Minds crew. He connected them with Braga, who has been running his own rap label for more than a decade.

"We have different styles," says Braga, who comes to town a couple of times a year to do shows with Hypnotized Minds artists. "It's different with the artists from up North versus the ones from down South, different influences. We're a little more hip-hop, with a little R&B. But all together it makes for a good party. If I had a choice, Memphis would be like my second home. I just like the music environment down there."

Halloween Bash 2011, featuring Project Pat, Lil Wyte, and C Hustle

Monday at the New Daisy Theater, 330 Beale St. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets: $21, available at the door the day of the show and in advance online at newdaisy.com. For more information, call 525-8979.

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