Student art feature: Victor Garcia
There is a plethora of musicians at Colby, from pianists to singers to saxophonists. We have concerts for the orchestra and the jazz combo, and student rock groups play frequently through the Colby Music Incubator.
But we rarely hear of a lesser-known group of artists: Colby’s rappers. One such rapper is Victor Garcia `23. The Colby Echo had the opportunity to sit down with Garcia this week to talk about making music during quarantine.
“I moved from Colby directly to Mexico, so I was at home for three weeks in a row without getting out of my house at all,” Garcia said. “Then I realized it wasn’t that big of a deal as long as I was wearing a mask and everything, and then I started going out, but still most of the stores were closed.
Most of the time [I] was hanging out with friends that I [have known] since way before high school who were also working on music,” Garcia explained, “and that’s how I decided to start recording during the summer.”
Over the summer, Garcia recorded several rap songs with his friends. Most of them, he said, were ‘featured’ tracks—where several people rap on one person’s song. He also released several songs on streaming platforms and YouTube under the name caparkove.
Garcia told The Colby Echo about the inspiration for his song “CLASE 1”.
“[My friends and I] used to go out and play soccer or do whatever out in the street, or by the river, and I would just record all the adventures and I’d upload them to YouTube [under the name caparkove]…. So when I decided to create ‘CLASE 1’ I had these lyrics written before, and it’s mostly just about how I flow on a beat and just showing them [through lyrics].
“This is the first class, this is the first time I’m showing you how I rap,” Garcia continued, “I [decided] to create a music video for that song. I got some of the clips that I had from eight or nine years ago and I edited them and I put them together. So that’s the origin of caparkove.”
Garcia worked with a professional music producer from the DopeClass Mafia in Reynosa to make “CLASE 1.”
This collective of rappers and producers has a studio in the city, but Garcia told The Colby Echo that most of his recording was done in makeshift home studios.
Similar setups can be found in students’ dorm rooms all over Colby’s campus. Garcia told The Colby Echo about spontaneously making a song with another Colby rapper.
“We just looked for a beat, because he is not a beat maker, and we both liked [the beat we found]. We just freestyled over it, and recorded many freestyles, and you just keep what you want and whatever you don’t want, you just take it out. It’s all recorded. Now we have to take a picture that we want for the cover.”
He plans to release the song soon with his collaborator.
Garcia also rapped in the CMI Fall Concert, and he said he hopes to do more performances in the future at Colby. As rappers like Garcia continue to grow their outreach, more and more students are being touched by their art. Colby is sure to see an expansion of rap on campus in the future.
~ Milo Lani-Caputo `23
