Thirty-two rappers from Denver and beyond went head-to-head in a jammed basement venue on Market Street. The crowd was sweating, jumping and taking their shirts off.
But it wasn’t a typical concert. Instead of performing live, each rapper plugged their phones into the sound system and played a short snippet of a track.
It was the second edition of Aux Wars, a competition where rappers play their music to a hyped-up crowd. The name refers to the “aux” cable that connected the rappers’ phones to the sound system. One rapper, Gabbana Nova, played a track called Colorado:
C-o-l-o, r-a-d-o …
Please don’t come around, thinking we just riding ski slopes
Aux Wars was hosted by the rappers DNA Picasso, Trev Rich and RANSTEEZ, staples in the Denver rap community. They want to build a bridge between veteran rappers and musicians who are new on the scene.
“I feel like each new generation that comes up has a duty to, obviously they're doing their own thing, they're coming up, they're fresh in the game, but they have the duty to learn the landscape and who's out here,” Picasso said.
He’s working to strike the balance between continuing to create opportunities for himself, and opportunities for new artists.
Older artists “have a duty to create a tether between ourselves and the younger generations. I think this kind of work that I'm really focused on right now is new in the sense that there haven't been people who are still running this race as an artist (while) also giving the opportunity simultaneously,” Picasso said.
This year's version of Aux Wars was a leaner and faster version of the debut event last year, with the artists competing in a three-round bracket with two judges.
“It was super high energy, super fun. A lot of artists that I'd never heard before, a lot of artists who never heard each other before, never met each other before,” Picasso said when the competition had wrapped. “It was really cool.”
90 seconds to win
Each contestant had 90 seconds to play one of their songs.
First-round winners were decided by the crowd, measured by which rapper’s track got the loudest cheers.
The second round is where the judges came in. Omar Mitchell is a writer and creator of Dope at its Finest, a music blog. He also works with The Recording Academy and Universal Music.
“We have some really, really, dope talent in Colorado,” Mitchell said.
Lala is a DJ for KS107.5 and host of the podcast, LockedwithLala. She works to shine a light on artists in the city, which made her a no-brainer to judge this year's Aux Wars.
“We got a lot of culture just seeping through and there's not really a platform for them,” Lala said. “And things like this help bring us together. It definitely strengthens the community.”
Each judge could award one point per round and the crowd got to add in another point. The judging criteria were sound quality, originality, replay value and songwriting. The rappers came with a song already recorded and mastered. The sound tech at the venue wasn’t allowed to interfere with the levels if a track’s mastering was off or it sounded too quiet.
Mitchell focused on the replay value of a song, and when the competition wrapped, Picasso asked him which song he would add to a playlist. Mitchell said all of them, and he meant it.
“I'm going to go ahead and have all of the artists send me their music, and we're going to get their music sent off to Universal's media team, 1824, and we're going to also go ahead and get it sent off to the Recording Academy as well,” he announced as the competition wrapped up, drawing cheers from the crowd.
“All of the artists here tonight were winners,” he said. But there was one true winner.
A C-o-l-o-r-a-d-o winner
Gabbana Nova, a Denver native, won with “Colorado.” The track has been gaining popularity online, especially as a backdrop to TikTok and Instagram videos.
Nova said he wants to focus on growing both his own career and the city’s presence in the rap world.
“I'm definitely one of those people that rep my city,” Nova said. “My hit song is called Colorado, so I do want some people to see the culture that's here.”
His win came with a slew of perks put together by the larger community. Picasso called it a “brand development package,” including a photoshoot, a radio interview on KS 107.5 and a meeting to pitch music to curators and labels.
After winning, the 28-year-old took over the aux once more and played a victory song he had prepared, titled Aux Wars Freestyle. The unexpected takeover rocked the crowd, judges and fans alike.
“I kind of thought I was gonna win today. (I’m) not trying to be cocky, but I'm just really passionate about my art,” Nova said.
Picasso's calling on fans and musicians around Denver to share that passion and build the scene.
“I'm a real champion of the local scene in general, but specifically hip hop and R&B, because I feel like these are some of the genres that need a little bit more shine. We need more camaraderie, we need more events like this. We need more builders, not less extractors,” he said.
“Everyone's trying to get something out of the game, but we need more people building and contributing and adding to it.”
