by Jacob Zlomke
Lock the door. Draw the shades, turn out the porch light. Make it look like nobody’s home. It’s Halloween on Mean Street.
In many neighborhoods, children of all ages roam from house to house in costume gathering candy. Maybe some high school kids will smash jack-o-lanterns after the streets have emptied.
The guys inhabiting Mean Street, though, are giving horror-genre stars like Michael Myers, Leatherface and Freddy Krueger a run for their money.
At least, according to “Trick or Tr34t on Mean Street” they are. The new track produced by Omaha producer Haunted Gauntlet, features verses by six Omaha rappers: Op2mus, Scky Rei, Conny Franko (aka Conchance), Zo, Max Fischer and Articulate.
“Trick or Tr34t” was written, recorded, and released in anticipation of a Thursday, Oct. 31 Boo Goo show at the Slowdown, where the track will be performed.
The bassline growls, persistently aggressive, while the six rappers trade verses, each boasting Halloween horrors like, “Welcome to the night of dead walkers, the night you find a dead jock up in your locker,” on Conny Franko’s verse and, “I guess now I’m shanking my shrink,” and “the hobgoblin gobblin’ oxycontin” on Articulate’s verse.
Adam Haug, who produced the track as Haunted Gauntlet, said celebrating Halloween with music has become tradition for him. For many years, he has either put together or played a show on Halloween. “Trick or Tr34t” allowed the group to add an extra element to that tradition.
The group also released a music video for the song, something Haug said wasn’t originally their intention.
“The studio was filled with laughter, honesty, creativity teamwork and respect like I have never felt before with a group of musicians, many who had never met or collaborated before,” Haug said. “The experience of hanging out was positive enough that everyone agreed a video needed to be made.”
The video features all six rappers standing around a fire in Gifford Park in Omaha.
“Essentially everyone got in the Halloween spirit and got buck around a fire dancing to the song we just wrote,” Haug said.
Mean Street the group, a collaborative effort between Haunted Gauntlet and Conny Franko, has been working together on an album, which Haug said will be released sometime early next month, called “Mutants of Omaha.”
Haug said the album will be released for free online, along with an 8-bit side-scrolling video game where the player plays as Conny Franko on the streets of Omaha’s Midtown neighborhood.
In the meantime, the group will perform at Slowdown on Thursday, Oct. 31 for Boo Goo, a costume dance party.
Jacob Zlomke is Hear Nebraska’s editorial intern. His Halloween tradition is to watch The Shining. Reach him at jacobz@hearnebraska.org.