In January, the maverick hip-hop duo BBGuns, comprising emcees Lazy JP and Barz Blackman, released Rust Belt, their first album in six years. A lot has changed since 2019, and BBGuns have risen to meet our perilous moment with a renewed sense of gravity and grit. In advance of Friday’s RUST BELT album release show, Lazy JP (legal name JP Pitt) answered a few questions. 

Pittsburgh Manifold: Who is/are BBGuns? A catchphrase or tagline, if you will.

JP Pitt: BBGuns are a high-energy, one-of-a-kind act that smashes together the lineages of underground hip-hop and indie rock, the auteurs of the aux if you will.

PM: How did you get your start as a duo? 

JP: We’ve known each other since we were young, but didn’t start working on music together until our early 20s, based on a mutual interest in hip-hop. We would hype man for each other until we eventually realized we were stronger together.

PM: You recently released a new album called Rust Belt. Who/what were some of your influences this time around? 

JP: We wanted to capture the essence of Americana through blues, rock, folk, and country which all overlapped in the late 60’s and 70’s. Particular artists would include The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Roots, The La’s, Howlin' Wolf, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Tom Waits, The Black Keys, The White Stripes, Kanye’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,  Gorillaz’ Demon Days and Jane’s Addiction.  Our main producer on Rust Belt, Height Keech, works in this space a lot so it made for a great match.

PM: The album artwork reminds me a bit of Springsteen’s Born In The USA. Is this intentional, or mere coincidence? 

JP: The artwork was inspired by a photoshoot Farade did last year to promote his album “Before Death We Blossom” which had a similar belt buckle. We wanted to kind of go for a Sticky Fingers thing, but then once we pushed it to fit the Americana vibe, we realized it was more like Born in the USA. So I guess it was a bit of both.

PM: Your songs feature such colorful and offbeat instrumentals. How do you go about finding those? 

JP: We are pretty hands on with our production whether in terms of curation or creating sounds ourselves. Height Keech was the backbone of the Rust Belt sound, and he works primarily in a sampled-based Rap/Rock style. On songs like “Float” and “Fire Walk with Me,” we will write and/or arrange additional parts like electric guitar to add some dynamics and left turns to some of the tracks. Billy Hoyle and C. Scott are from here (Pittsburgh), so we were able to meet with them to really zero in on the sounds we are looking for.

PM: How do you feel this album differs from or compares to your previous work? 

JP: This album is much more mature and dark in terms of sound and subject matter than previous efforts, while still maintaining a playful energy. It feels like there is more weight and teeth to the material as it was directly inspired by the anxious and chaotic times we find ourselves in.

PM: Is there a track on the album that you’re especially proud of? If so, why? 

JP: “Float” is a favorite of ours, as it mixes a few genres, features a few friends, and has a few twists and turns. It is really important to us to try to balance experimentation and catchiness.

PM: Who are some other Pittsburgh artists that you’ve been listening to?

JP: Samurae, Connie Roses, Forty Winks, Farade, Gina Gory, James Perry

PM: Is there anything that I forgot to ask or that you’d like to let people know about you, your music, or anything in general?

JP: Rust Belt Album Release Party 2/27 at Spirit in Pittsburgh with Barbados Black, Melt, Height Keech, and Cain Canary. Otherwise we just want to put the city on notice that we are back, and we ain’t going anywhere. Regardless of what the numbers say, we respectfully think we are one of the strongest acts to come out of here. Catch us while you can.

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Featured Track: Zin: “Controller”

On their brooding 2024 debut, Zin (fka Zin Hound) laid down moody murk that vacillated between heavy-lidded dreaminess and roaring angst. The Crafted Sounds-signed quintet has returned with “Controller,” the first single released in advance of an upcoming April LP called Levitation Frequency. The track swaggers darkly, like a demon clad in shitkicker boots. Caleb Gill and Reid Magette’s guitars contain a bit of glam strut, but the glitter is more obsidian than sequin, and Gill, in his conveyance of Zin’s signature bad-trip imagery, brings his voice up from a sick stage whisper (“Curse the weight up to my chin / Ventilation / Cut the muscle from within”) to a defiant belt (“Unease / Controller / You’ll never have control”). The sentiment is directed both without–at stifling relationships and power structures–and within–at the cruel internal voice that nags from the mind’s recesses. 

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Upcoming Shows and Pittsburgh Music News

Beloved Oakland venue Haven has closed indefinitely due to a "stop work" order from the City of Pittsburgh. All upcoming shows have been cancelled, and tickets are being refunded. The development leaves a significant gap in the Pittsburgh live music scene, but the show goes on in Oakland (The Station, Kame House), Squirrel Hill (Squirrel Hill Sports Bar), South Side (Club Cafe), Mt. Oliver (222 Ormsby), Allentown (Bottlerocket), Lawrenceville (Thunderbird, Spirit, SideQuest), Garfield (Mr. Roboto Project), Bloomfield (Brillobox), Polish Hill (Gooski’s, Rock Room, Polish Hill Oubliette), North Side (Government Center, Stage AE), Millvale (Mr. Smalls, Poetry Lounge), and New Kensington (Preserving Underground). 

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On Thursday, 2/26, New Kensington punk/metal venue Preserving Underground will be hosting an evening of brutality headlined by Michigan grindcore band See You Next Tuesday and supported by local headbangers Underneath, Lake Verity, and Aconitum. Doors at 6, music at 6:30, $15.

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When it comes to electronic music, do you prefer the merciless pulse of rave, or the video game bloops of chiptune? Whether you’ve decided or not, make sure to check out HYPERCOLOR, a chiptune vs rave soundclash being held at SideQuest on Saturday, 2/28. Artists performing include “lo-tek hi-nrg” tinkerer Nullsleep (based out of Arizona), digital fusionist and video game composer FLOOR BABA, experimental electronic artist Fiona Ishem, modular synthesist 8cylinder, and daydreamy party-starter dj poodle emoji (all Pittsburgh-based). Show at 9, $20, 21+. 

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TOBACCO, the frontman of local psych legends Black Moth Super Rainbow–whose Soft New Magic Dream was one of our top 2025 albums–soundtracked High on Life 2, a first-person shooter game released earlier this month. You can download the soundtrack, which contains 33 goopy electro instrumentals, on Bandcamp.