Criminal Instinct’s crossover appeal

In February, local straightedge hardcore five-piece Criminal Instinct shared Masquerade’s hell stage with an unlikely assortment of offbeat groups: Sacramento, Cali.’s punk/thrash crossover act Trash Talk, experimental producer Lee Bannon, Brooklyn-based noise-rap trio Ratking, and Atlanta’s Two-9. Criminal Instinct, at first, seemed a bit out of place performing alongside such a disparate lineup. But the group quickly discovered that it had stumbled upon an unsuspecting audience that was ravenous for the raw and aggressive energy Criminal Instinct unleashes during its live shows.

It was a Red Bull Sound Select showcase assembled by local promoter Randy Castello of Tight Bros. Network. Though these showcases mix local and touring acts performing diverging styles, no Atlanta Red Bull showcase before that night had paired stranger bedfellows than Two-9 and Criminal Instinct. Would the huge crowd of hip-hop fans in the house, not accustomed to the orchestrated violence at a hardcore show, lead to a clash of cultures? “It makes sense, but if some dude who does not know the deal gets smoked in the face when our set starts, he might start scrapping,” says Criminal Instinct singer Josiah Hoeflinger.

The show was a greater success than anyone could have predicted. The room embraced Criminal Instinct’s set — a physical workout once diehards started stage diving to standout tracks like “S.F.W.” from the band’s 2014 7-inch, Fever. “After that night, I encountered a lot of co-workers and other people who otherwise would not have heard about Criminal Instinct or anything to do with it but now knew,” guitarist Lucky Hunter says.

Two-9 also found itself warmly embraced by a new audience. “This show made us want to do more things like this in the future, bridging the gap between hip-hop and rock music,” says Cartier Dave of Two-9’s FatKidsBrotha. “One of the best parts of this show were the kids jumping on stage and crowd surfing. They were just as turned up as us the whole entire time.”

Crossovers between rap and aggressive rock music are nothing new — see Onyx and Biohazard’s theme for the 1993 film Judgment Night. But in this case, Criminal Instinct is winning over another scene’s fans with a stringent hardcore sound, without a hint of hip-hop influence. “We are a hardcore band, dedicated to writing songs for hardcore kids,” Hunter says. “If you do one thing well, people notice.”

Sharing stages and audiences makes sense considering just how much rappers and straightedge hardcore bands proudly represent their hometowns. “Atlanta is a city that goes out for the home team,” Hunter says. “Us being from Atlanta and their group being from Atlanta, kids like to pull for their own cities, so it was a natural thing.”

According to Hoeflinger, the band is interested in strengthening those bonds, and even forging a few new ones. “We are not looking to play shows like that all the time, but with someone like Two-9, it’d be sick and a way to expose our music to kids who never in a million years would have heard about us.”