For the past year, local rap crew, Six of Seven, have been hosting monthly hip hop shows at South First billiards called Natural Selections. The shows are free and showcase artwork by local artists. This Saturday marks their one-year anniversary, which also happens to be the release show for their latest EP. We interviewed one of the rappers from the crew, LIFE, about what the past year has been like, and what we can expect in the future from Six of Seven.

Why don’t you tell me a little bit Six of Seven, what you do at South First Billiards and what the shows have been like?

Yes, Six of Seven is a collaborative initiative that includes core members Raymond Bustos (Wise Pro), Richard Bustos (Iron Slaughter), Zack Whitley (Denial) & myself (LIFE). Together we organize local Hip Hop events, which we call the Natural Selections Show in San Jose @ So. 1st Billiards. We’ve been doing so for over a year now with the help & cooperation of many prominent & active local artists. From live painting to live performances, we offer a fresh variety of awesome talent at no charge, as all our shows are free.

What is the attraction to bringing together art and hip hop together and how do they complement each other?

It’s all about stimulating your senses to the max. Whether it’s hypnotizing sounds or thought provoking visual art, I believe all these art forms complement each other as they present themselves in a manner for all to see, enjoy, & experience themselves. The more the stimuli, the better the show, in my opinion.

What sets apart your monthly shows from all the other hip hop shows happening here in the south bay?

I think the main thing that sets our hip hop shows apart from the rest is that we’re offer free shows for our local community. Other shows are based on selling tickets for big headliners and whatnot, but at our Natty Selects Shows, we don’t let just anyone perform on stage. We like to present and offer high quality Hip Hop, which is a rare commodity nowadays. You’re gonna see and witness Real Hip Hop with soul & substance when you’re at our events.

Tell me a little bit about your crew. What do you offer as a collective to hip hop?

Six of Seven has been active for years, but we officially went public back in 2010 when we first performed at the Cypher at Johnny V’s. Since then, we’ve released a double-length mixtape (Light Years/Post Apocalypse) and also been working on numerous singles. This month, Oct 20 will be our latest EP release and we’re excited to finally have something concrete to give to people. A lot of work has been put into the 7 songs being presented. I believe the fact that we’re lyricists, and put thought into what we write sets us apart from many other artists. That and also the classic sampled tracks that make up our beats and compliment the bars we write, give us a style that’s unique, pure and unadulterated.

Do you have anything special planned for the 1-year anniversary show?

We’ve got big plans! It’s going to be a Halloween costume party with a $100 prize costume contest! We’re gonna have a fog machine, strobe light & lasers! Not to mention a fresh lineup of performances planned that night, from Midnight Arsinal, KohXDeen, Walt Rogers, Sharkstyliens, Six Of Seven, & Natural Fx! There’s also going to be live painting by Adam Valentino, Joseph Rodriguez, & Oscar Lars (all amazing artists). Live DJing will be provided courtesy of DJ S90. And to top it all off, drink specials will be in effect! ($1 Jello Shots, $5 AMF’s, & $3 PBR’s). Plus we’ll have hard copies of our EP available at the show!

What are your plans for the upcoming year? Will you guys continue to put on monthly shows at South First Billiards? Or do you have other plans in the work you wouldn’t mind sharing with us?

We’re definitely going to keep throwing our shows and providing a source of local Hip Hop for our city. Ever since San Jose lost the Voodoo lounge, Toon’s, and Music in the Park, it’s harder and scarcer to find a place to have and host Hip Hop events. With the help of all the artists we’ve worked and continue to work with, we’ll be supplying the people what they want. We’re in the works of finding a proper location where we can throw all ages events so we can incorporate a more community-based aspect to the movement. Stay tuned…

Six of Seven play at South First Billiards on Saturday October 20th at 9:30pm.The show is free.

The Freq Out! series of art and music events prides itself on being a place for spontaneity and synchronicity, and South Bay artists Katie Raynes and Matt Lopez know perhaps better than anyone how true that can be. Raynes, now a San Jose State student, had been going to Freq Out! since it started in Santa Cruz. But it was after it moved to downtown San Jose last year that it led her to Lopez, who would eventually become her artistic collaborator and boyfriend.

“The first time we ever talked was at a Freq Out, on Halloween,” says Raynes.

“I had just moved here from Florida, and started hanging out at live music events downtown,” says Lopez, who lives in Gilroy.

In a nice bit of circular karma, Raynes and Lopez will paint together at the next Freq Out!, on Friday at South First Billiards. This edition will feature seven live acts on the bill, and four visual artists doing live art to the music.

Most people aren’t used to seeing live art during a concert, let alone two people working on the same piece. But Lopez and Raynes began collaborating on their paintings after first experimenting with a long, rectangular canvas.

“I started at one end, and she started at one end, and then we just flip-flopped,” remembers Lopez. “I went over what she was doing, and she went over what I was doing.”

“It almost inspires me more when we work together,” says Raynes. “It’s more of a surprise.”

The canvas they’ll be working with on Friday will be the largest they’ve done yet. Both of them are hooked on the live art experience.

“It draws out inspiration that you wouldn’t normally get,” says Raynes. “Live music is so unpredictable.”

Lopez is now doing most of his art at live music events. “Everybody is really into it, because it’s immediate,” he says. “It’s like you’re a musician playing a song.”

In another interesting bit of symmetry, the San Jose group Rebelskamp, who’ll be performing at this week’s Freq Out!, looks at their music like an artist painting a piece.

“That’s such a match for our music,” says drummer Dan Gilardoni of the event’s live-art component. “We don’t know what we’re playing, but we’ll just start flowing with it.”

Rebelskamp started as the freestyle rap crew LSB, and didn’t compromise their creative process one bit when they became a rock band.

“We make up our music on the spot,” says Gilardoni. “We thrive on that unpredictability.”

Hip Hop has always entwined itself with other art forms, be it dance or visual art, both considered key elements of hip-hop culture. Local promoter Jonathan Reniery hopes to give people a taste of at his monthly free party Natural Selections, which arrives at South First Billiards this Saturday. The show features rappers, DJs spinning between sets, performance artists and painters.

“When Hip Hop started in the late 70s/early 80s, graffiti went hand in hand with hip hop,” Espinal says. “We’re not really specifically encouraging graffiti art, but art is art. It’s just another added bonus to what we’re trying to present for free for the community. It’s basically a buffet of audible and visual goodness.”

Headlining this month’s edition of Natural Selections will be local rappers Hennessy, YDMC and dancer Pop Kulture. The video below features all three:

The song, “Good Vibes” by Hennessy, harkens back to the laid-back, jazzy, underground-hip hop of the 90s. The horns, orchestral swells and mellow drum beat set the perfect backdrop for Hennessy’s relaxed, but thoughtful rhymes. The video was shot at “On the Corner Music” in Campbell. Keep your eyes open for a cameo by owner, Jeff Michael Evans.

Also performing at the show will be Rico Laws and Six of Seven. DJ SavSci will be spinning between sets. Showing off their paintings will be artists Alex Gammon, Erals R. DeLao, OscarLars and Life.

The next Natural Selections show is Saturday May 19th at South First Billiards. It show starts at 10pm and is free for 21+.

“I’m really into ska, but a very specific kind of ska,” says Kevin Castout, lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for San Jose’s Them Rude Boys. “I’m not into the ska where it sounds like I should be on a cruise.”

In other words, Castout never had much use for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish or the rest of the genre’s third wave. Growing up, he found his way back from Rancid to the Specials, Bad Brains, the Clash and beyond, all of which inspired the alt-reggae-ska-punk sound of his band.

“The roots reggae and roots ska from Jamaica, and especially 2-tone ska that came out in the 70s, and punk ska—man, it really gets me,” he says.

He couldn’t have found a better symbol for his dislike of ska’s goofy side than the name of the group. Though most people outside the scene don’t know the phrase anymore (beyond its use in Rihanna’s pick-up song of the same name), “rude boys” were once the most dangerous and controversial element of Jamaican music. They were the snappily dressed, heavily armed youth of West Kingston. Unemployed, often living in squatter camps, and always ready for a fight, they were basically the original gangstas, and a whole generation of Jamaican artists lined up to claim them or shame them.

In the early 80s, the 2-tone movement brought the phrase back. “The rude boys are dancing to some heavy, heavy ska” sang the Ruts in 1980’s “Staring at the Rude Boys” (most recently covered by Gallows).

With the Ruts’ call for punk-ska unity blazing a trail for bands like Them Rude Boys, the name has yet another layer of meaning for Castout’s band. But ironically, it didn’t click with him when the band first got together in the summer of 2010, and it was suggested by the Boys’ former drummer, Armando “Mando” Cardenas, best known for his time in Insolence.