Reflect June to bring his ‘guerrilla poetry’ to Eagle-Vail

EAGLE-VAIL, Colorado — Ask rapper Reflect June to describe his sound, and it’s a fairly good bet that he’ll mention “guerrilla poetry” within a few seconds. Reflect June, whose real name is Zachary (no last name given), says that his art is “21st century poetry put to music.” And while he was never very interested in reading poetry as a kid, he’s drawn to writing it.

“I always considered hip hop the new poetry,” the 27-year-old said during a phone interview on Wednesday. “Everybody involved, in my eyes, is part of the new beat generation. We’re broke and we travel around entertaining people and expressing ourselves artistically.”

But don’t expect Reflect June to recite poetry when he gets on stage at Paddy’s in Eagle-Vail Saturday night.

“I very much like to rap on stage. I’m an emcee, so hip hop is a huge part of my life. But my music is more poetic than something you might be used to,” he said.

Back in ’01, when Reflect June was getting his start at small venues in the Dallas area, he would oftentimes dance with the crowd while rapping about them at the same time. Engaging the crowd is always one of his primary goals, he said.

“This (Paddy’s) show I’m trying to work on more visual arts with my performance. I’ve been working on a routine where I paint while I rap. ... I’m going to try my damndest to be interactive.”

Ancient Mith, a Colorado-based rapper, will also perform Saturday night with Reflect June. While Reflect June paints, Ancient Mith will likely be jumping around the venue “getting people involved physically, while I get people involved visually,” Reflect June said.

A rapper who paints? That’s just one of a handful of traits that sets Reflect June apart from mainstream rappers. On his latest album, “Hunt Club,” he only cusses once, he said.

“I say f*** once, otherwise I just don’t write like that. Not to say I’m an angel, I just don’t think art has to be full of (profanity) to be interesting and I definitely see what I do as art.”

Underground rap in Eagle-Vail

So how exactly does an underground Dallas, Texas rapper get booked at a small restaurant/bar in Eagle-Vail?

“Randomly,” Reflect June answered, before explaing that Randy Zaccardo, the talent buyer for Paddy’s, used to live in Dallas and promote underground hip hop groups and rappers there.

Recently Zaccardo moved to Eagle County and has started doing the same thing locally.

“We’ve done three shows at Paddy’s so far that are hip hop groups and it’s starting to pick up and I wanted to reach out to (Reflect June) and have him come out and do a show,” Zaccardo said. “He has a very good stage presence and is just an awesome underground rapper.”

Though Paddy’s might not seem like a typical venue for a pair of rappers, Zaccardo said the previous two hip hop shows were popular.

“The last two shows there had to be another bartender called in and there were like 50 people on the dance floor, dancing,” Zaccardo said. “People who work there said they’ve never seen anything like it.”

High Life Editor Caramie Schnell can be reached at 970-748-2984 or cschnell@vaildaily.com.

If you go ...

Who: Rapper Reflect June

Where: Paddy’s, Eagle-Vail

When: Saturday, 9 p.m.

Cost: Free. Free keg.

More information: Call Paddy’s at 970-949-6093. For more information on Reflect June, visit www.myspace.com/reflectjune.