Xpensive Taste (Benny Frank & The President)

The first thing that Abe “The President” Gallegos said to the crowd at Pisco Sour Restaurant and Lounge this past February was, ““Free Patrón shots for everyone who’s drinking tonight.”

Joined by his brother, Ben “Benny Frank,” Xpensive Taste proceeded to bring the energy of Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Denver, the place they once called home.

Although the nightlife of Las Vegas inspires the duo’s rich beats, the Latino culture of Los Angeles keeps the brothers’ music prideful. In many ways, the brothers’ music marks the future of Latino hip-hop with an infectious hip-hop and hard dub sound.

“For the most part, I write the lyrics and he does the beats, so it’s 50-50,” Ben said, “[It’s] all original music, we don’t sample anything at all, we just try to make the best-sounding music, that uplifts people and gets people going.”

Because the duo has performed in plenty of places, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego, the brothers are well-known from the West Coast all the way to the Southwest.

According to Ben, musicians need a wide range of exposure. “We represent America and hip-hop in general, but since we are Latinos we are also trying to bring the Latino hip-hop to another level,” Ben said.

So far, Xpensive Taste has gained more than 2,000 online followers and, with all of the duo’s fandom, Low Rider Magazine has invited them to be a part of the March 31, 2012 Low Rider Supershow in Mesa, Arizona.

Xpensive Taste has also been gaining a more lasting profile elsewhere in the Latino scene. For instance, both brothers were lucky enough to attend the November 2011 Latin Grammys in Las Vegas.

After attending the award ceremony, the brothers are considerable trendsetters and both of them want to utilize their growing fame to encourage youths to make positive choices. The brothers are co-founders and key spokesmen for P.A.C.E. and its “Striver Movement,” an anti-bullying campaign started by the brothers in Los Angeles.

P.A.C.E. stands for Promoting Academics through Creative Expression. “This year’s tour was about anti-bullying and we traveled around to schools, to talk to kids,” Abe said. “Bullying is a big problem in the U.S. right now, especially with the Internet and cyber-bullying.”

While the message of anti-bullying will stick with youths, the brothers also want kids to be “strivers.”

“Our motto is ‘strive for the best and never settle for less,’” Ben said. “It doesn’t mean ‘success and nothing less,’ it means try to follow your dreams and conquer your goals in life.”

While Xpensive Taste is definitely moving toward the top of Latino music charts, P.A.C.E., as well as the “Striver Movement,” help the brothers consistently broadcast a positive message to anyone. It’s not some expensive, overly economic proposition, it’s just in good taste. - The Metropolitan

The first thing that Abe “The President” Gallegos said to the crowd at Pisco Sour Restaurant and Lounge this past February was, ““Free Patrón shots for everyone who’s drinking tonight.”

Joined by his brother, Ben “Benny Frank,” Xpensive Taste proceeded to bring the energy of Los Angeles and Las Vegas to Denver, the place they once called home.

Although the nightlife of Las Vegas inspires the duo’s rich beats, the Latino culture of Los Angeles keeps the brothers’ music prideful. In many ways, the brothers’ music marks the future of Latino hip-hop with an infectious hip-hop and hard dub sound.

“For the most part, I write the lyrics and he does the beats, so it’s 50-50,” Ben said, “[It’s] all original music, we don’t sample anything at all, we just try to make the best-sounding music, that uplifts people and gets people going.”

Because the duo has performed in plenty of places, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego, the brothers are well-known from the West Coast all the way to the Southwest.

According to Ben, musicians need a wide range of exposure. “We represent America and hip-hop in general, but since we are Latinos we are also trying to bring the Latino hip-hop to another level,” Ben said.

So far, Xpensive Taste has gained more than 2,000 online followers and, with all of the duo’s fandom, Low Rider Magazine has invited them to be a part of the March 31, 2012 Low Rider Supershow in Mesa, Arizona.

Xpensive Taste has also been gaining a more lasting profile elsewhere in the Latino scene. For instance, both brothers were lucky enough to attend the November 2011 Latin Grammys in Las Vegas.

After attending the award ceremony, the brothers are considerable trendsetters and both of them want to utilize their growing fame to encourage youths to make positive choices. The brothers are co-founders and key spokesmen for P.A.C.E. and its “Striver Movement,” an anti-bullying campaign started by the brothers in Los Angeles.

P.A.C.E. stands for Promoting Academics through Creative Expression. “This year’s tour was about anti-bullying and we traveled around to schools, to talk to kids,” Abe said. “Bullying is a big problem in the U.S. right now, especially with the Internet and cyber-bullying.”

While the message of anti-bullying will stick with youths, the brothers also want kids to be “strivers.”

“Our motto is ‘strive for the best and never settle for less,’” Ben said. “It doesn’t mean ‘success and nothing less,’ it means try to follow your dreams and conquer your goals in life.”

While Xpensive Taste is definitely moving toward the top of Latino music charts, P.A.C.E., as well as the “Striver Movement,” help the brothers consistently broadcast a positive message to anyone. It’s not some expensive, overly economic proposition, it’s just in good taste. - The Metropolitan

Exclusive Interview
Tell us about where you are from and how you got to this position today.
We were born in Denver, Colorado. We Moved to LA in the early 90’s, our sister was a child actress she was in a Michael Jackson Video, McDonald’s Commercial and played a few reoccurring roles in some TV network sitcoms, Hanging around the industry at such a young age gave us the desire to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Being so young our parents felt it would be fair for us to move back toDenver and have a normal child hood, rather then pursuing an entertainment career so young. Living in Denver gave us a chance to grow close and learn more about both sides of our family. We get all of our musical talents from our dad’s side, our grandmother was in a band with her siblings back in the 50’s and 60’s and continued to sing and play the guitar all around Colorado, even throughout our own childhood. We get our drive for success and ambition in life as well as business from our mother’s side. Our Grandfather was a very successful real estate entrepreneur in Denver. He is the definition of “from rags to riches”. Growing up The President always had a natural ability when it came to rhythm with music, sports and dance. Inspired by the great Michael Jackson and having the ability to re-enact his dance moves he would be requested and sometimes demanded by everyone at family gatherings to perform “Billie Jean” Benny Frank had always been deeply inspired to rap. As a child in Denver he would record freestyles on his brother The Presidents voice recorder while listening to artists like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Notorious B.I.G. and 2 Pac. We then moved to Las Vegas in the early 2000’s were we spent our teen years growing up and developing our true identities. In Las Vegas Benny continued his love for rap in part taking in rap ciphers with his friends when they would hang out after school or on the weekends. All through out High School The President was apart of his schools choir. The President was introduced to a beat making program Fruity Loops by a mutual friend. The President was always inspired to try and play any type of musical instrument, by being introduced to this program he immediately new he was capable to produce musical arrangements. One day it came to our mother’s attention while watching a Spanish-language television show Don Francisco’s Sabado Gigante she seen a young talented duo performing and thought we should pursue a music career. We then began to master our craft and sound for a few years in Las Vegas then once we got to the point when we were ready to showcase our talents to the world we decided to move back to Los Angeles to pursue a professional career in music. Since living in LA we have been performing all over from Pasadena to The Sunset Strip in Hollywood to the Inland Empire in Riverside. We have also been able to perform out of state in Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. While performing in all these areas we have also had the pleasure to produce our own concert events consisting of Indie Artists of all genres of music. Without all these traits and experiences there is no Benny Frank and The President (Xpensive Taste).

What are you currently working on and what can we expect to see?
We are currently touring with Lowrider Magazine this summer. The Tour is a 3 City Tour where we will travel and perform in Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas. We are working on new music and collaborations as well as producing other Indie Artists. We are also working on continuing our Indie Artist concert tour “The Buzz Tour” this fall.

Tell us about one of the hardest challenges you had to face in the industry?
Dealing with scam artists promising a career and exposure for exchange of our money upfront and not seeing a return has been one of the hardest challenges. In this business everyone is bound to get scammed at least once and we are no exception to that rule. We’ve learned through these experiences to not fall dependent on others to get the job done of furthering our career.

What was one of the biggest set backs in your career and how did you bounce back?
The beginning of this year our Uncle was a victim of an assault and hospitalized fighting for his life for an entire month. With no immediate family such as wife or kids, being his nephews we were the next to step in and help with his road to recovery. Benny Frank stood at his beckon call at bedside the entire time and months after to help our uncle recover from this life threatening incident. This set us back from releasing any new music, performing and continuing our indie tour. We managed to bounce back by returning even more driven and inspired. Having a new outlook on life seeing how fragile ones life can be we understand any of our life’s can be taken and changed in a blink of an eye.

What are some things artists need to be careful of?
There own self confidence, only they can stop themselves from pursuing there dreams and being succes - WWS Magazine

Exclusive Interview
Tell us about where you are from and how you got to this position today.
We were born in Denver, Colorado. We Moved to LA in the early 90’s, our sister was a child actress she was in a Michael Jackson Video, McDonald’s Commercial and played a few reoccurring roles in some TV network sitcoms, Hanging around the industry at such a young age gave us the desire to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Being so young our parents felt it would be fair for us to move back toDenver and have a normal child hood, rather then pursuing an entertainment career so young. Living in Denver gave us a chance to grow close and learn more about both sides of our family. We get all of our musical talents from our dad’s side, our grandmother was in a band with her siblings back in the 50’s and 60’s and continued to sing and play the guitar all around Colorado, even throughout our own childhood. We get our drive for success and ambition in life as well as business from our mother’s side. Our Grandfather was a very successful real estate entrepreneur in Denver. He is the definition of “from rags to riches”. Growing up The President always had a natural ability when it came to rhythm with music, sports and dance. Inspired by the great Michael Jackson and having the ability to re-enact his dance moves he would be requested and sometimes demanded by everyone at family gatherings to perform “Billie Jean” Benny Frank had always been deeply inspired to rap. As a child in Denver he would record freestyles on his brother The Presidents voice recorder while listening to artists like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Notorious B.I.G. and 2 Pac. We then moved to Las Vegas in the early 2000’s were we spent our teen years growing up and developing our true identities. In Las Vegas Benny continued his love for rap in part taking in rap ciphers with his friends when they would hang out after school or on the weekends. All through out High School The President was apart of his schools choir. The President was introduced to a beat making program Fruity Loops by a mutual friend. The President was always inspired to try and play any type of musical instrument, by being introduced to this program he immediately new he was capable to produce musical arrangements. One day it came to our mother’s attention while watching a Spanish-language television show Don Francisco’s Sabado Gigante she seen a young talented duo performing and thought we should pursue a music career. We then began to master our craft and sound for a few years in Las Vegas then once we got to the point when we were ready to showcase our talents to the world we decided to move back to Los Angeles to pursue a professional career in music. Since living in LA we have been performing all over from Pasadena to The Sunset Strip in Hollywood to the Inland Empire in Riverside. We have also been able to perform out of state in Denver, Phoenix, and Las Vegas. While performing in all these areas we have also had the pleasure to produce our own concert events consisting of Indie Artists of all genres of music. Without all these traits and experiences there is no Benny Frank and The President (Xpensive Taste).

What are you currently working on and what can we expect to see?
We are currently touring with Lowrider Magazine this summer. The Tour is a 3 City Tour where we will travel and perform in Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas. We are working on new music and collaborations as well as producing other Indie Artists. We are also working on continuing our Indie Artist concert tour “The Buzz Tour” this fall.

Tell us about one of the hardest challenges you had to face in the industry?
Dealing with scam artists promising a career and exposure for exchange of our money upfront and not seeing a return has been one of the hardest challenges. In this business everyone is bound to get scammed at least once and we are no exception to that rule. We’ve learned through these experiences to not fall dependent on others to get the job done of furthering our career.

What was one of the biggest set backs in your career and how did you bounce back?
The beginning of this year our Uncle was a victim of an assault and hospitalized fighting for his life for an entire month. With no immediate family such as wife or kids, being his nephews we were the next to step in and help with his road to recovery. Benny Frank stood at his beckon call at bedside the entire time and months after to help our uncle recover from this life threatening incident. This set us back from releasing any new music, performing and continuing our indie tour. We managed to bounce back by returning even more driven and inspired. Having a new outlook on life seeing how fragile ones life can be we understand any of our life’s can be taken and changed in a blink of an eye.

What are some things artists need to be careful of?
There own self confidence, only they can stop themselves from pursuing there dreams and being succes - WWS Magazine

"EY MAN I GOT YOUR CARD AT THE SHOW I JUST WANT TO LET YOU KNOW YOU GUYS KILLED THAT S@#$ MAN....YOU GUYS REALLY STEPPED IT UP YOU GUYS MIGHT BE THE FUTURE OF LATINO HIP HOP.....IM EXPECTING TO HEAR YOU GUYS ON 96.3 "
- Voicemail From Fan

"EY MAN I GOT YOUR CARD AT THE SHOW I JUST WANT TO LET YOU KNOW YOU GUYS KILLED THAT S@#$ MAN....YOU GUYS REALLY STEPPED IT UP YOU GUYS MIGHT BE THE FUTURE OF LATINO HIP HOP.....IM EXPECTING TO HEAR YOU GUYS ON 96.3 "
- Voicemail From Fan

"Nice perfomance, a lot of love shown in the crowd! good job…" - WeLowkee.com

"Nice perfomance, a lot of love shown in the crowd! good job…" - WeLowkee.com