Lil Nas X got a lot of credit for bringing rap and country together with is massive hit “Old Town Road”. But us weirdos know the true “firsts” in that category was the KMC Kru in 1991, deftly blending bluegrass with hip hop in “The Devil Came Up to Michigan”.
Taking a cue from other hip-hop covers of classic tunes (Walk this Way, Mary Mary, The Twist), KMC Kru did a mostly-straight cover of Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. But, they put a “street” twist on it. No longer dealing with fiddles, the devil now offers a turntable made of gold for KMC’s soul!

The Devil picks a fight with The Butcher, the baddest DJ around in this city. He’s gonna make the devil feel real itty-itty-bitty. The Devil steps back, flexes his wrist, then kicks it hard. In the original, he plays a funky guitar riff that devolves into record scratching. In the video version, it’s an all out funk-fest with horns, dancing ladies, bass guitars, chicken scratchin’, all that good stuff. The Devil’s equipment turns to smoke and disappears.
The Butcher then gets into some crazy turntable skills, clearly out-performing the devil, who’s skills were a bit more old-fashioned.
After an epic battle (the demon code prevents him from declining a rock-off challenge), the devil has to bow his head in defeat. Then the Butcher gets right back to work and holla’s out BASS!
What’s so great about this song is it tells a compelling story. You can see the Devil pulling up (he even had a portable phone!!!!), you can see the Butcher and his crew not backing down. After the battle, a sad piano tells us that the dust had settled and it was time to learn the fate of the challengers. It’s brilliant.
I could not find a single thing on the internet about KMC Kru. I assume they’re from Michigan. They released one major-label album and disappeared. Perhaps the devil got their souls. This song did not chart, as far as I can tell.
There was a remix that is featured in the video, and I remember as a kid that the Devil had a different solo in the remix than on the regular version.
Here’s the video version with “funk” breakdown: