A look at Pueblo’s underground rap scene

by Adam Gazzolla

I confess that I have had a hand in the

production of a few hip hop/rap albums

you may have heard of. But Google

remembers more of that part of my life

than I do. I moved out here to Pueblo about

three years into my hiatus from the “biz”

and saw two things I had never seen before:

an actual tumbleweed blowing down Main

street, followed by a pimped

out pickup truck.

I thought, now THAT’S

gangsta!

So when P.U.L.P.

wanted to do a piece on the

local rap scene I was dying

to check out what’s going on

in the land of tumbleweeds

and pimped out pickups.

I met with Pueblo’s own Made Up

Minds members Nato and ZET to get their

perspective on the Pueblo rap scene and

to listen to some of the music that’s being

made here.

The music they brought for me was

pretty damn impressive. It had a cool, old

school De La Soul/Tribe Called Quest

vibe to it. The rhymes were intelligent,

well thought out, tightly executed and

without a hint of thuggery. The music had

a nice sensibility to it: interesting blends

of smooth, knocking beats and eclectic

loops and samples. These tracks were not

just about the drums, and were loaded with

plenty of ear candy.

Made Up Minds is part of Pueblo’s

“underground” rap movement. This does

not mean that these groups and shows are

secret or hard to find; it is in reference to

the style of rap. Underground rap takes a

more cerebral approach and celebrates the

art of rhyming: telling stories rather than

just bragging about money, guns and hos.

They drink whiskey and beer and smoke

their trees out of glass pipes, as opposed to

Henessy, Alize and blunts.

These guys are all about having fun.

There are two primary venues to catch

underground hip hop in Pueblo: Phil’s

Radiator and The Senate. Pueblo rap fans

are so ravenous that they have attracted

national touring rap acts to these smaller

venues more often than Colorado’s larger

cities. These shows can be quite an event.

Recently Phil’s Radiator was host to the

national act The Chicharones, as well as

several local acts for a hip hop extravaganza

night. The event proved to be one of the best

attended shows at Phil’s.

The party didn’t stop with completion

of the show. It moved out on to Phil’s patio

and continued with the “Ultimate Colorado

Freestyle Session,” where rappers ZET,

Tha GOD, Milogic, Contraband, Bias,

Con, Big J, Distrakt, Don Fausto, Kove

One and Ego participated in a twentyminute-

long freestyle-spitting and beatbox-

banging rhyme fest.

This freestyle session can be viewed

on YouTube.

Unfortunately, the local rap radio

station caters mostly to major label blahde-

blah releases instead of its own hip hop

community. This forces local artists to rely

on the Internet for most of their promotion.

Record sales are done from the trunk of a

car at show performances. Yet they seem to

persevere.

Pueblo hip hop is a force to be

reckoned with. If there’s one piece of advice

I can offer to these aspiring mc’s and beat

makers, it’s just to keep doin’ it, and doin’ it,

and doin’ it. Good things will come.

You can check out some of Pueblo’s

underground rap scene Sunday Aug.

2nd when Sleep, Made Up Minds and

TooTone Taurus will be performing at

Phil’s Radiator at 8 p.m.

 

The message

is hope… and

repping the

719

by Peter John McLean

PG. 7

You may know Zet as the longhaired

kid who used to work at

Independent Records. Or that

long-haired kid who plays with The

Verbal Remedy. Or that kid who cut his

hair and started a project called Made Up

Minds with Nato. Zet’s a lot of things to

a lot of people—mostly surrounding the

hip hop scene of southern Colorado… as

well as being a phenomenal human being

in this writer’s opinion.

Zet is the kind of guy you want to

be when you grow up. He has a thousand

things on his mind at any given second—

a thousand projects looming over him—

and yet, he is relaxed and laid-back.

Leaning back against a chair,

smirking over the scattered CDs and

flyers that add up to one of the sickest

hip hop careers a 24-year-old can brag

about; and Zet is never finished. He’s

been involved in the Pueblo underground

hip hop scene for years, playing with The

Verbal Remedy and a group before that

called 42OH. He talks about the growing

hip hop scene in Pueblo, more artists,

more listeners, more shows, more cop

drama… But raided houses and neighbor

complaints are just part of the game when

the shows happen at houses instead of

established venues.

Zet considers, “Really the only place

to play is Phil’s Radiator Service and most

of the people just want to get drunk.” So

they hold house shows, even setting up

gigs for major artists like Listener, who

is developing quite a following—and

returns to Pueblo on May 4.

“Listener is one of the first artists I

came across when I got into underground

hip hop and next thing you know I’m

making him breakfast and he’s staying

at my house,” speaking proudly of one of

his greatest influences.

But enough about Listener, here’s

Made Up Minds: The MUM’s Manifesto,

the new release by Zet and Nato, complete

with a song about Pueblo which you can

find on Myspace if you’re too cheap or

lame to buy the damn album. It’s the

twelve-pack of Coors Light at the end of

the tunnel.

Zet describes the inspiration, “It

started because we just weren’t happy.

We were stuck in a rut. But the message

is hope.”

Every track on the album is a

solid mix, with extremely thoughtful

monologues and a tidbit of 1950s-type

dialogue-nonsense that still ties in with

the overall hopeful theme of the album.

Zet adds, “We were going to call the

album Moving Forward… The whole

album is connected, speaks to the same

message.”

I listened to a copy of the CD prior to

release and before the mix was finalized,

and it was incredible. The tracks were

clearly laid down by serious musicians

with real thoughts floating around in

their creative brains—as visceral as it is

professional.

But starting with Made Up Minds

is like serving tiramisu for lunch and

I apologize for my tactless behavior.

Before Made Up Minds was The Verbal

Remedy and it was good. Still is.

The Verbal Remedy has quite a

reputation around here, having played

shows for years (check out The Speakeasy

EP) and even catching air-time on Rev

89.

Zet recalls someone calling in on Rev

and saying “You aren’t repping the 719 if

you aren’t playing The Verbal Remedy.”

Essentially, that was where Zet

started to make waves. And his calm

demeanor towards everything isn’t a new

development either. “The first show I did

was in Denver…that was pretty nerveracking.

But I’ve never had a bad enough

experience to stop playing.”

Zet has played all sorts of shows,

opening for acts like Black Pegasus and

Souls of Mischief. He spoke of once

playing for an Insane Clown Posse

crowd. “We played for all these Juggalos

one time and we were like, ‘What are we

doing here?’ But by the end they were all

having a great time.”

Say hi some time; maybe shake

a hand or two. Meet Zet, Nato, Bias,

Josh Martinez and a whole flock of

other MCs, DJs and genuine hip hop

enthusiasts. They’re all over the place—

playing shows, drinking coffee, selling

sandwiches and conquering western

civilization. Shows play and you’re

missing them… Don’t let it pass you by

By JON POMPIA
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

FOUND*DED Records is going international. A sister label to Found*ded Records called Found*ded Vancouver is being established. It will be ran and lead by Schieba Twin! Hit him up @ myspace.com/schiebatwinakadjmadness

Found*ded has also set up links to all of our artists including it’s newest member Cali Native: Evergreen. Him and MC HEMP HOP are going to be making some big moves on the west coast. Found*ded Vancouver will be holding it down up north. And For now we got Colorado on lock. We will be Global soon enough!

We are going to update the website continually from here on out. So check back weekly. www.founddedrecords.com 
Much Love. Mad Respect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ZET

Here's the scoop. In the last so long Found*ded has had two projects in the works. Audio Input and The Foundation. They are both very near finish. I have decided to combine the projects into one epic project. Audio Input - The Foundation will be hitting the streets within the next couple of months. It includes a long list of very talented artists including: The Verbal Remedy, Nato, Con (P.o.w./M.I.A), Tha G.O.D. (Deciples of Logic), ZET ForWord, D.J. Paperkut, Booger, Kris Harlow, Hank D. Thorough, and many more! I have several tracks from Audio Input - The Foundation posted. Check them out. Any input is greatly appreciated. Keep your ear to the ground because It will be droping and melting some faces very soon. Much Love. Mad Respect. Peace.          -----------------------------------------------------------------ZET