Mentes Diferentes

MENTES DIFERENTES 

Striving to bring a message of unity from the Chicano community, the collective Mentes Diferentes never shies away from discussing social issues regarding the Chicano experience. 

The Sacramento-hailing collective comprises of lead founder Reckless Reaction, Rocky Raps #1 Contender, KEST, J-Loco from Brown Hustla Records, and Chaotic ITILII. 

You can find Mentes Diferentes' releases like El Campo, Bongs & Bongos, SacraMentes, Ocho, their latest album, Different State of Mind on all digital streaming platforms. 

□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□□■□□■□■□■□□□□□

Who are you what do the group mean to you 

Reckless Reaction - 

I am the head founder of the group. I am a producer, emcee, engineer.

I love music and I think music brings people together no matter what background they may have. Music is a universal language. I believe there's power in numbers, and with unity, nothing can stop us.

After creating the group, The Desperados, with help from friend/co-creator Vicious V (Victor Alejo), our group saw vast success, which led us to more artists to form Mentes Diferentes. Sadly Vic suffered a stroke and lost his voice and nearly his life. 

Expanding on his journey towards his music career, founder Reckless Reaction had unfortunately endured a terrible drunk driving accident, nearly killing the artist. After being placed on house arrest, he began taking music all the more seriously. After majoring in Commercial Music Recording and receiving his associate's degree at American River College, Reaction later returned to expand on his computer science education.

Rocky Rap’s #1 Contender

Mentes Diferentes is not just a crew to us, we're family. This Journey we're on is not easy. Through the good, the bad and the ugly, we came along the way.  Finding ourselves as a crew has been a process from rebuilding a few times with the loss of crew members over the years, trying to balance our music, school, work and our personal lives. It’s a lot to take on your own, together but we motivate each other, we look out for one another. Our friendship is strong, to the point where nothing can break us, you hear it in our music. We love Hip-Hop, it has brought us together. If you ask me what this group means to me? It’s Everything!

I feel like this question shouldn’t be answered by me, it should be answered by my crew members. It was a group decision to have me join and be a part of this amazing group of talent, and to this day I’m still humbled and thankful to be a part of this group and this brotherhood. They didn’t have to add me to their group, they were already dope and amazing without me, they all saw something in me that at the time I didn’t see in myself, and for that I am eternally grateful.

•○●□■♤■□●○•○●□■♤■□●○•○●□■♤■□●○•

KEST 

 I'm an emcee/song writer. 

The group to me is made up of the dopest Chicano emcees in the Sacramento area from the 2000's that put politics aside to make great music as a collective. For all of us to meet the way we did and create this beautiful thing that is Mentes Diferentes, I'd say it was destiny.

I used to be one of the biggest graffiti artist in the city until i got caught up. I was involved in a gang fight in high school and tried as an adult and I couldn't tagg anymore. I was so in love with Hip-Hop, I started rapping to keep focused on something creative. I focus on word play and intelligence when writing. Mentes Diferentes got me out of the streets and into the studio with a voice from the streets. Im a voice for the voiceless, that kid growing up en el varrio...i am the voice of the RAZA.

•○●□■♤■□●○•○●□■♤■□●○•○●□■♤■□●○•hi

Names L.O.C.O Brown Hustla

I'm a producer, artist, engineer. 

I began doing music with Reckless Reaction about 15 years ago. Thanks to the group, I began doing live performances across the state which continued to feed my passion for music. Mentes Diferentes allows me to tap into a different side of my songwriting that is derived from a lot of the community work I'm involved in. The different styles, personalities and influences contribute heavily to my work in music.

•○●□■♤■□●○•○●□■♤■□●○•○●□■♤■□●○•

Steven Payán alias Chaotic ITILII. 

Inspired by the civil rights era and the Chicano movement of today, I bring the perspective of the struggle as a frontline organizer speaking up for the disenfranchised. I write to inspire unity and the fight for liberation of oppressed peoples from my perspective. We are also community organizers who work with many local and statewide organizations so we perform at several direct actions and protests to help liven up the spirit and culture. I'm also a full time single father so I also write for my family and take them out to events and actions we are at. 

I've never looked at myself exclusively as a rapper, but as an activist with a mic.

 In a group where we all shine in our own different respective ways, I'd say my connection to working class struggles gives us another side to which others can relate to.