A-Gang is an underground rap group from Sherbrooke in Southern Quebec, Canada. The trio consists of rappers Frank White and Keebs as well as beatmaker / producer and sound engineer, Syntax. Frank explains, “The name A-gang comes from the Quebec french expression ”eille la gang” that means, ”hey wut’s up gang”. In 2015, Frank While released his solo album ”Before Earth Turns to Ashes” before teaming up with Keebs and Syntax and spent a good portion of the pandemic writing together to create something truly unique. Starting off with a bang, the guys teamed up with popular Canadian rapper Mad Child (Swollen Members) for their single “Voice of Entertainment” released in January which has already been streamed over 38,000 times.
On April 5th, the rap group released their newest hit ‘Rain Snow Hail’ via 16 Bars Records which is set to appear on their debut album release in May titled ‘The Come Up’. “This song actually was made in the studio one night. When Syntax played the beat, we just thought it was way too gangster for two white boys from the suburbs lol so we actually decided to go along with it and sort of laugh at rappers who think they are all that. So it is not to be taken too seriously as we did it in a comical mind state.” When asked how this single differs from their previous ones Frank says, “We usually mix rap with acoustic instruments,happy vibes and singing hooks whereas this project we felt was just to release anger and hate in a funny but effective way!”
This rap group really knows how to make a grand entrance into the Canadian hip-hop scene and paired their newest single “Rain Snow Hail” with an iconic animated lyric video. When asked why they chose a lyric video Frank says, “I actually was looking for a company that did animated/cartoon videos then came across a video LyricVids did for Merkules and The Game. From there I discovered many projects they had done and I was like”That’s it!! these are the guys i was looking for!”
The music video is completely animated – featuring the cartoon heads of Frank White and Keebs. LyricVids is known for our rapping head videos and it is certainly one of our favourite types of animations that we produce. For this specific song, we really wanted to create something that exploded off the screen. The faces are perfectly designed, down to the faded facial hair without losing that cartoon energy we were aiming for. Our creative team asked themselves “how far can we take this rapping face video and make something really wild!” They managed to do just that by creating a really dynamic visual that dips its toe in the 3D space while living in an early 2000s aesthetic. I love how bold and masculine the video is while maintaining its vibrance. The cyber punk colour palette is especially pleasing and really makes this video stand out from the others. The other cartoon visuals such as the neon green slime, the moving lips, and the police car are super fun. I love how they relate to the lyrics like when he says “No time off I’m so sick of it” and there is a montage of different cartoon watches. Also when Keebs says “yeah finally rhyming on violin loops” next to the cartoon string instrument.
When asked about his favourite part of the video Franks says, “I thought LyricVids really made a certain element of the song stand out by putting inserts of things we was actually saying, so I would definitely say the attention to details really blew my mind away.” This song is certainly lyrical so a strong focus on the words was key. Choosing 2 bold fonts that are really eye catching was important and I really love that the more cartoon font choice glows green and yellow, matching the subtle slime references throughout.
What’s next for A-Gang? Frank says, “The release of the album ”The Come Up” is most definitely the next big step, Québec finally re-allowed shows and festivities to take place so we will be doing a lot of shows in Canada this year and hoping to make some sort of break through on the U.S side as this is definitely one of our biggest overall goals.” You can follow the rise of this new Canadian hip hop group across all social media and music streaming platforms at @agang_music_official or at their website at www.agangmusic.com
Check out the animated lyric video for A-Gang “Rain Snow Hail” on YouTube Here: