\$et 4 Life Records originated as “Vital Squad”. Vital Squad is KIKO, KIRBY, O.E., SHORTY and BIG MOE. Vital Squad grew up as childhood friends on 3rd Street in Lubbock, TX. They were bonded together by their similar interests in the streets. Two major interests being their musical tastes and their own musical talents. In 1998 while walking through the mall they decided to fool around at the “Sound Machine” amateur recording studio. They recorded their first song and discovered their future.
Kiko and Kirby then enrolled in Sound Technology and Music classes at highly respected South Plains College which has produced such artists as 1998 CMA best new artist Lee Ann Womack and 1999 Grammy Award winning artists the Dixie Chick’s lead singer Natalie Maines. From SPC they took with them the knowledge and drive to pursue their dreams.
They then hit the studios where KIKO started producing the beats that the other members started writing their lyrics to. In August of 1999, Kirby’s cousins Val and Michael Suarez (Shorty and Doc) moved back home to Lubbock, TX from Kansas City, Kansas. Shorty was asked to become the fifth member of Vital Squad and Michael became the manager.
Michael then started Vital Entertainment and began promoting, booking shows and handling the business duties for the group. In April of 2000, Vital Entertainment had the first Vital Squad demo CD’s manufactured in Houston TX and the group began throwing out these CD’s at shows and used them for street demos and quickly the Vital Squad became a known name in the Texas rap industry.
Michael soon realized that much of the work and knowledge he was acquiring was similar to what most independent labels use to start their own name. So, in October of 2000, he sat down with Enrique Romero Jr. (Kiko), discussed several business strategies and they formed the partnership known as \$et 4 Life Records. Since then they have signed Shi (producer/rapper), Z-Loc (producer/rapper) and S.I.N.(rapper) and are now stronger than ever and on their way to becoming one respected name in the music industry.
Set 4 Life Website
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