HighDro

HighDro, "The Time is Now": Proletariat hip-hop that's like an Abrams tank on the class warfare front lines, "The Time Is Now" is so incendiary, it could double as kerosene. Here, HighDro comes with blue collar, business-minded rhymes targeting income inequality, apathy and the plight of the leather-tough working man, which he proves himself to be on this rugged, righteous disc.

- Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review Journal. December 23, 2010

HighDro: We're a little worried Joe Coburn doesn't sleep. The rapper/activist/promoter who calls himself HighDro maintains "Hip-Hop Roots" Tuesday nights at Boomers (which is about to celebrate its third anniversary) and "Reggae Roots" on second Saturdays at the same venue; books national touring acts; and performs his own shows all over town. Most notable is his recent opening slot at Wu-Tang Clan's December show at House of Blues, potentially opening the gate for more locals performing hip-hop on Strip stages in the future.

According to the overworked artist, 2011 is going to be even bigger. Dro's booked out to April, with multiple tours west and southeast, and he has plans to record an E.P. with Goldfish Don't Bounce (the group that backed him at the Wu-Tang Clan show). But most of all, he's excited for a solo album he plans to drop at the end of 2011, which he's calling his cherry: the culmination of all his work in the Las Vegas hip-hop scene.

- Max Plenke, Las Vegas City Life. Thursday, December 30, 2010

"He's one of Vegas' most multifaceted MCs: political, party-friendly, laid-back and galvanized all at once. A local hip-hop lightning rod, HighDro's not just blowin' smoke:"
- - Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review Journal (Apr 29, 0010

"That HighDro can command multiple hip-hop styles is impressive. That he does it all with this flair and consistent originallity is kind of astounding"
- - Dave Surratt, Las Vegas City Life (Apr 01, 0010)

"The Time Is Now" unveils the "real" HighDro: A man infected by good musical ideas and bottomless outrage at First Amendment decay, pharmaceutical company evil ("Perscribed a Sickness") and the wrenching reality of a miliary-industrial coplex'e role in quashing humanity's better impulses('Suppressed News")
- - Dave Surratt, Las Vegas City Life (Apr 01, 0010)

"HighDro reminds us this week his high-visibility position in the locl hip-hop community is no fluke, and he does it by sending in not one,not two, but three seperate discs."
- - Dave Surratt, Las Vegas City Life (Apr 01, 0010)

"HighDro argues for higher pay for teachers and against the overselling of prescription drugs."


- - Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review Journal (Mar 25, 0010)

"A nimble-tongued MC seemingly influenced as much by the likes of Milton Friedman, Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky as any rapper, HighDro comes with glowing embers of social protest rooted in class consciousness"


- - Jason Bracelin, Las Vegas Review Journal (Mar 25, 0010)

"HighDro implored the crowd to listen to the lyrics closely. Judging from the bobbing heads and eyes focused on the MC, they did, soaking up the potent message delivered in his lines."
- - Jordan Healy, The Rebel Yell LV (Jan 02, 0009)

"Man on a mission, Highdro, was up next right before CappaDonna. After working for months to promote his newly released album, organize a series of concerts and get ready for his four-month tour across the country, he still rocked the mic as if he got all of eight hours sleep."
- - Las Vegas Tribune (Jul 01, 0009)

Since then, it has developed into a steady outlet for local and smaller national bands with a fairly diverse roster of acts intermingling with one another, especially during regular hip-hop gigs overseen by local rapper HighDro.

"We can have a hip-hop show in the back and a full-on punk rock show in the front room and these two crowds live in complete harmony," Amoroso says. "I can absolutely admit now that when HighDro came to Boomers, I was definitely one of the naysayers, saying: 'This will not work. We cannot have these two movements collide.' But it just got to the point where the hip-hop scene was rockin' out in between sets to the punk and the rock bands, and the punk people were going in the back, checking out the local hip-hop music."
- -Jason Bracelin Las Vegas Review Journal June 7th 2010