NEW CUMBERLAND – A group of vigilantes took over a Hancock County courtroom on Friday, but there was no cause for alarm – they were just shooting a video for Weirton “hillbilly” rapper Jason Mallas.

Known to his growing fan base as Mini Thin, Mallas said he needed the courtroom to give realism to a story about “outlaw” justice in his song “Meth Labs & Moonshine.”

“I’m telling the whole story of what’s going on with the state of West Virginia – from coal mines to meth labs,” Mallas said after the four-hour video shoot.

The music video is being directed by Cody Knotts, a Pennsylvania native whose movies include “Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies” and “Lucifer’s Unholy Desire.”

Mallas is the grandson of former Hancock County Magistrate Mustafa “Mickey” Mallas – a lineage he proclaims proudly with a prominent tattoo on his upper right arm, showing his grandfather as a World War II airman. With him on Friday was his father, Monty Mallas.

Mallas describes his style of music as country hip hop, or “hick hop,” which blends the sometimes profane ethos of rap with more traditional values.

“I’m like a cross between Waylon Jennings and Tupac Shakur,” he said. “I do push the envelope a lot. I put a lot of my heart in my music.”

His YouTube videos, some of which have hundreds of thousands of views, include songs about drug abuse (“Breaking Down”), domestic violence (“It’s Your Time”) and life in West Virginia (“Coal Miner’s Lullaby,” “Holler Holler” and a rap remake of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”).

Some of the original songs are featured on his 2013 CD “Hillbilly Hustle,” released on his own Hillbilly Murda Records.

Mallas said he got involved in the music business after dabbling in crime and struggling with alcoholism. While he wouldn’t discuss details, his website says he once served a three-year jail sentence.

Sober from alcohol for 12 years, Mallas now uses rap to tout faith in God, patriotism, sobriety and assistance for crime victims. The latter morphs into a kind of vigilante justice in the music video he’s currently shooting in Hancock County.

The courtroom segment shot on Friday shows Mallas and his group of vigilantes, known as the Regulators, executing justice on an accused rapist and rescuing his victim.

“We took the victim and made her part of the Regulator family. We made her part of the movement,” Mallas said, acknowledging that the concept is controversial. “We’re going around in this video (and) murderers, rapists and pedophiles are being taken care of – outlaw style.”

Shooting for the video continues today in Weirton. Mallas said he expects the video to be released in late June or early July.

(Huba can be contacted at shuba@reviewonline.com)