Long before national tours, collaborations, and underground rap recognition, Big Texas was just a kid from the West Side of San Antonio trying to help a friend make better music.
Unlike many artists who begin their journey with dreams of becoming a rapper, Big Texas originally found himself drawn to the technical side of music. While attending William J. Brennan High School, he had a close friend who was passionate about making music but lacked access to professional recording equipment. Most of the songs were being recorded directly on a phone, and Big Texas wanted to help improve the quality of the recordings.
What started as a simple effort to help a friend soon became an obsession.
He began teaching himself music production, recording techniques, mixing, and engineering. Hours that could have been spent doing anything else were instead dedicated to learning how records were made. The deeper he went into the process, the more fascinated he became with every aspect of music creation.
Eventually, producing and engineering naturally led him to experiment with recording his own vocals.
Before long, Big Texas wasn’t just helping create music—he was making his own.
After graduating from Brennan High School, he continued developing his sound while becoming more involved in San Antonio’s underground music scene. Around 2018, he joined a local rap collective known as Mic Militia. At the time, the group provided an outlet for emerging artists looking to perform, collaborate, and gain experience in front of live audiences.
Through Mic Militia, Big Texas began regularly performing at Imagine Books & Records, a beloved independent venue that became one of the most important places in his early development as an artist.
For many people in San Antonio’s underground scene, Imagine Books & Records was more than just a venue. It served as a gathering place for artists, musicians, creatives, and music fans from all walks of life. For Big Texas, it was one of the first places that gave him a genuine opportunity to develop as a live performer.
The venue’s intimate atmosphere allowed artists to connect directly with audiences while learning how to command a stage. Those early performances helped Big Texas build the confidence and experience that would eventually become one of the defining strengths of his career.
To this day, he credits the Hurd family and Imagine Books & Records for helping provide a platform that allowed local artists like himself to grow. Although the venue eventually closed its doors, its impact on his life and on San Antonio’s underground music scene remains impossible to replace.
It was during this era that Big Texas met Pack Static.
What began as a connection through local performances eventually evolved into a close working relationship. Between 2019 and 2021, Big Texas and Pack Static performed together regularly, helping each other navigate the challenges of building careers within an independent music scene.
During this period, another important chapter began through appearances at The Dry Run Showcase, a recurring event hosted by KDOTLA at a backyard venue connected to Broadway Bar. The showcases became known as a gathering place for underground artists looking to test new material, sharpen their live performances, and build connections within the city.
For Big Texas, The Dry Run Showcase became another crucial stepping stone.
The events provided additional opportunities to perform consistently, network with artists from different corners of the city, and continue refining the stage presence that would later become one of his trademarks.
Then everything stopped.
Like countless artists across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic brought live music to a sudden halt. Shows disappeared, venues shut down, and the momentum many artists had spent years building came to an abrupt pause.
Around the same time, Big Texas entered a new chapter of life: fatherhood.
After the birth of his son, he relocated to Houston for a period while focusing on family responsibilities and adjusting to a dramatically different phase of life. While music remained important, priorities shifted as he worked to provide stability for his growing family.
Eventually, Big Texas returned to San Antonio in late 2021.
That decision would prove to be one of the most important turning points of his career.
Although he had originally met Concept The Hashtronaut years earlier through local shows connected to the Pack Static era, their paths began crossing more frequently after his return. Around this time, Concept was building momentum through Good Herb Records and a growing series of events known as Conscious Fest.
Big Texas began participating in the Conscious Fest events and quickly found himself reconnecting with the city’s underground music community.
The atmosphere felt familiar.
Artists were collaborating.
Shows were happening.
Momentum was returning.
After participating in multiple events, Big Texas officially became affiliated with Good Herb Records, beginning a new chapter that would help elevate both his career and San Antonio’s underground scene as a whole.
Together, Good Herb Records and its artists helped demonstrate what could be accomplished when local creatives worked together with a shared vision. Through collaborative effort, the team successfully helped bring respected underground artists such as Father, Robb Bank$, and Azizi Gibson to San Antonio for performances that many fans never expected to see in the city.
For Big Texas, those events represented more than just concerts.
They represented proof.
Proof that independent artists could build something meaningful.
Proof that San Antonio could support underground music.
Proof that years of grinding through local venues, backyard showcases, and small performances were beginning to pay off.
The relationships built during the Good Herb Records era would ultimately lay the foundation for everything that followed—from larger tours and national opportunities to new collaborations, new movements, and the next chapter of Big Texas’ journey.
But before any of that happened, there was simply a kid from San Antonio trying to help a friend record better music.
Everything else grew from there.
