Six friends create Landing 8 Records to revive hip-hop, R&B on campus

A heavy bass beat emanating from pieces of recording equipment strewn across the floor vibrated the Sproul Landing dorm room walls

Second-year mechanical engineering student Miles Gibson stepped up to the sole microphone stand, inhaling and exhaling loudly to still his nerves, and began to rap to a beat engineered by his friend, second-year ethnomusicology student Nicholas Henry. Gibson lied to the five others in the room about having experience in recording music, but to his surprise, he felt confident in their nods of approval and their cheers when he finished.

Last year, six friends in Sproul Landing created Landing 8 Records, a hip-hop and R&B label and collective, to forge a bond between them and revive a love for the genres on campus. The group released its debut mixtape, Gibson’s “Intro{spect},” on Jan. 15.

The members of Landing 8 Records consider friendship to be more important than fame.

Rico Lomarda, a second-year biochemistry student, and Henry were randomized roommates on Sproul Landing’s 8th floor, a themed community centered around visual and performing arts. Henry met his floormate Jose Cibrian, a second-year political science student, when Cibrian noticed Henry’s white snapback embroidered with a black G-Eazy logo.

The two, who were both fans of the Bay Area rapper, bonded after Cibrian pulled up a chair to start a conversation about the logo and the music. They spent hours in each other’s rooms discussing favorite artists, upcoming concerts as well as debating over the best rappers.

“When we met, it was this instant click,” Henry said.

Henry and Cibrian discussed the creation of a music collective, having been inspired by music and arts collectives such as Odd Future and Top Dawg Entertainment. The two then sought out four of their friends who immediately jumped on board. Landing 8 Records, Cibrian said, is about friends coming together to produce music and share an appreciation for the process.

“I got into music because I thought that it would be so cool to have a bunch of people that I make music with,” said Ashlee Penn, a second-year economics major and label rapper.

The first meetings were awkward as the group hadn’t established its dynamic yet. The six would gather in Henry and Lomarda’s cramped triple in Landing 8’s “Studio 863,” a name inspired by the room number.

At weekly meetings, the group would pile into the studio bathed in a crimson light from Lomarda’s tinted lamps. Several beat machines, pieces of equipment the friends consider to be the soul of the room, littered the floor space. They began to play around with the recording devices and suggest ideas about the direction of the group.

As the six talked more and their bond grew closer, the collective met more frequently to record hip hop and R&B songs.

“We just started really vibing,” Henry said.

Cibrian, a mixtape cover artist and rapper, frequently brought Landing 8 members into his dorm room despite a sleeping roommate in a bunk bed just across from the booth. The six artists packed tightly into the triple, setting up the recording devices and delegated the order of recording. In a flurry of whispers, they sat on the floor and tested out lyrical material to gauge each other’s flows.

Hours passed well into the night as the friends collaborated on tracks. The set up was a makeshift mic booth silhouetted in the moonlit room as Gibson attempted to read his lyrics out of his notebook.

“A lot of the friendships developed as we were making the music,” said Penn.

Gibson and Henry volunteered their dorm rooms to expand the studio, so the collective now has its sights set on releasing more music. Each person contributes equipment and ideas toward new directions for the music. Landing 8 Records hopes to release monthly collaborative songs in addition to solo projects, said Cristian Martinez, a second year political science major and rapper.

The members of Landing 8 Records continue to work about 10 hours a week in recording, mixing and producing their music. Whether recording vocals or meeting up to write lyrics, Henry said the collective remains keen on the importance of the members’ friendship.

“‘Good vibes only’ – that’s our motto. We’re open to whoever is interested in seeing what we do and where we want to go,” Henry said. “This family is always lit.”