Si TV Star: Cool Calm Pedro

In this day and age the advent of YouTube and MySpace has afforded every person in the world a shot at fame. Although there are positive sides to this new movement, the negative means a saturated market that makes it next to impossible to be discovered. Si TV has helped people like Cool Calm Pedro aka Tamo and his band Glory for the People have a solid presence in this digital age. With Tamo’s creative genius and his passion to revitalize a music industry that is on life support he clearly stands out as a gifted talent who lets his tunes and creative passion do all the talking.

SITV.COM: When did you first realize you had a gift for music?
Cool Calm Pedro: Man, I started young. I grew up [with the] church and my father and uncle were musicians. So I’ve been exposed to music my whole life through family. I started playing the drums at a very early age after my father bought me a real set. I remember thinking there wasn’t a home for a drummer in hip-hop only to watch ?uestlove of the Roots prove me wrong.

SITV.COM: Besides your family who were your early musical influences?
CCP: I listened to everything; Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Prince. I was really into that old soul and old funk. As I grew older I was influenced by that same funk in hip-hop, Latin rap some house, just everything…

SITV.COM: How long has Glory for the People been together and what would you say has been your biggest accomplishment as a group?
CCP: It’s a family thing so we been together forever. My brother T Nasty is on the keys, my cousin L is an MC and my cousin Mona Lisa is a vocalist. We just wanted to make good music and things took off naturally. Being on Si TV and performing on The Drop was big and winning 10 Gs in the competition Jammin was a big highlight for our career. And we love the feedback we get from people.

SITV.COM: How does Glory for the People avoid “the formula” everyone knows exists that assures a hit record?
CCP: We’re not about a formula, we’re about longevity. It’s about making a name for ourselves with quality music that will allow us to be around for a while. It’s not about here today gone tomorrow; it’s about making timeless records.

SITV.COM: Do you think there is any originality in music today?
CCP: Not really, it’s horrible actually. I’m really depressed as far as music. There’s nothing to listen to. I don’t like saying hip-hop is dead, but music in general is just horrible. You’d think with the recession, the war and unstable government some quality music would be getting made, like in the ‘70s. But it’s the opposite. We have the inspiration and the voice but we’re not using it. Music is meaningless right now, I can’t relate to it.

SITV.COM: Do you feel artists have a social responsibility since they have such powerful platforms?
CCP: Yeah, the platform they have does make them responsible to some degree. I do think they should be conscience of the message they are putting out because of their influence. But if a gangster rapper doesn’t want to be considered a role model we can’t do anything about that.

SITV.COM: How has the digital revolution of music affected you as an artist?
CCP: It’s good and bad. [It’s] good [because] it’s easier for you to network and get music out. The bad part is now everyone is a musician and no one is in the audience. No matter how much work we put into our projects you can shoot a little video, post it on YouTube and boom you’re huge. Meanwhile we got crews coming, shooting on 35mm and you can match that with little effort. It takes the creativity out of the process.

SITV.COM: What artists are on heavy rotation on your iPod right now?
CCP: Camp Lo stays on rotation… I bang a lot of old salsa like Hector Lavoe and Ray Barretto and a lot of South American Caribbean music.

SITV.COM: What can we expect to see from Glory for the People in 2008?
CCP: We have a new record coming out that we’ve been working on for a few years called Funk Peace. We’ll also have a new video coming and we’ll be getting involved with positive ventures that will help us sustain longevity.

SITV.COM: How has Sí TV has helped your exposure?
CCP: They’ve given us a lot of opportunities. They use our music for The Drop. The have us on Si TV On-Demand so you can catch us there and they’ve given us exposure online. They really promote us a lot and it’s great to have them backing us.

SITV.COM: You even did a Toyota commercial right?
CCP: Man, it was awesome because they gave me the freedom to be creative. It came naturally because I direct and create all our videos so I just went in and had fun and it turned out hot. It was another thing Si TV did to help expose me further.

SITV.COM: Any last words for the Si TV familia?
CCP: I just really appreciate the love and support that we get from Si TV. They’ve definitely been a true company looking out for our best needs, supporting me and my band. I truly want to thank them for that. They have a lot of talented people around them and I hope they continue to use the talent and run with it.

By Ivan Sanchez