Best Video
Best Record Label
Best Hip-hop Group (3rd Place)
With Positive 4 Opiates Vol. 2, the Texas-toasted, syrup-for-breakfast rapper South Sil won the nod for Best Hip-hop Artist last year. For 2014, Sil teamed up with some newcomers to San Antonio, creating BLK Sheep Music Group, a hybrid between a record label, video production company and hip-hop collective. If it helps, think of BLK Sheep as a video label. “There’s nobody constantly coming out with music and visuals like we do,” says Sil.
BLK Sheep began in its current form in February, when Sil began to collaborate with rappers A1 Pusha, r2 and DJ Mr. 325 under the direction of video producer and label head Alfredo Tobar.
Operating out of San Antonio, all of BLK Sheep, save Sil, are natives of San Angelo. In fact, A1 Pusha just arrived in San Anto late this summer, previously sending his rhymes over the internet from the high plains of San Angelo.
“I literally decided to go [to San Antonio] in an hour,” says A1 Pusha. “[Alfredo Tobar] came down to visit, and asked ‘are you down?’ I left mid-shift. It’s crazy how fast we’re growing. We got to get used to each other, but at the same time we gotta keep going like we’ve been together for years. We’ve got to have that aroma.”
With complementary styles, BLK Sheep boasts a paradigm for success. “I would describe mine as a Texas style,” says South Sil, “paying homage to everyone who paved the way, like DJ Screw and the artists who put Texas on the map. But I’m versatile, I can definitely get in on a real tip.”
According to Tobar, r2 is “a lyricist, a storyteller.” “You’re going to know all about r2 when you’re listening to his music,” adds A1 Pusha.
And as for Pusha himself? “As far as my style, it’s a lyricism and aggressiveness. The struggle and poverty. Everything I say is something I’ve been through, something I know is going to happen or something that someone I’m close to has gone through. I’m third in, so I’m playing my position. Falling back, letting everybody get theirs in and not stepping on toes.”
Though he’s staying in his lane, A1 Pusha comes correct on his own bars. On the video for “Holy Water,” flexing in a graveyard, Pusha touts his crew’s merit: “I be feeling like Aaron Rodgers, ’cause everybody’s OG around me.”
“That’s the main thing about us, it’s that camera,” says A1 Pusha. “The camera works wonders. Somebody could put out three CDs and we put out three videos and we’ll get a greater reach. I guess that’s the thing that sets us apart.”