You have probably heard of the Dilla Gents at one point whether a friend told you they were playing at Greenfire or you’ve watched the videos they posted on youtube. Dilla Gents is currently made up of Chris Misch, Kristin Olson, Cary Foxx, Rob Sweedler, Cameron Carrus and JP Merz. Robert Rashid was the Dilla Gents drummer last year, but once he graduated Chris knew he had to find another drummer that could hopefully match up to the talent Robert brought to the group. Chris also tries to get rappers to come visit Lawrence and play with the group. Three of his friends from Oshkosh played with the Dilla Gents for their first gig at the VR. Chris said it was a bust, but they also played at the Spanish House the same night and thats when they realized people were fans of their music. According Chris “we got our name because we are all influenced by Jay Dilla, a famous Hip Hop producer. He has produced music from Common to Talib Kweli.” Not everyone at Lawrence will know who Jay Dilla is, but pretty soon everyone is going to know who the Dilla Gents are if they don’t already.
They started playing together last year during spring term and haven’t stopped since. I talked to Chris Misch, who plays the trombone in the group, and he told me he really wanted to put a group together to play Hip Hop. Chris told me, “It was for fun at first but it reached a point where we realized we were doing something unique.” They have had the opportunity to play with rappers such as Freddie Gibbs who goes by J.o.D Jewels and Skipp Coon. Chris said it was cool to see the Dilla Gents youtube and facebook page getting fans from all over the world. “We have fans from places like the Czech Republic and France. It is really cool to see that people like our music.” On Saturday October 15th the Dilla Gents played at Greenfire, but don’t worry if you missed them play because they are going to be playing all over campus in the months to come!
Watch out for the Dilla Gents on Halloween as they will be playing at Co-Op and be sure to check out the Dilla Gents Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter pages!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Lawrence chapter.