Meet PNTHN, The Emerging Rap Collective Out of San Marcos

PNTHN (pronounced Pantheon) is a collection of ten musicians from San Marcos, Texas. They’ve been doing shows together since April of last year, with their most recent performance being at SXSW this year.

Ranging between the ages of 20-22 and managed by Adam Hamze (ham-zey), PNTHN consists of: PinkRanger– rapper; Jedi– rapper, producer, and engineer; YD– rapper; Otto– DJ; Romby– producer; Tony Tone– rapper; Dc4prez– rapper; TwoHorizonRa– rapper; Kenny Casanova– rapper; and Por Vida– producer. There’s one more member, Woody. He technically isn’t in PNTHN, but he handles the creative side of things, helps the group work through a lot of ideas, and appears in a lot of their promotional videos. Beyond their given titles in the collective, they each have vital skillsets like graphic design, videography, and photography that they incorporate into what they do.

PNTHN is known as a rap group, but one of the things that sets them apart is that they draw their inspiration from a lot of genres outside of rap. They don’t want to put themselves in a bubble. Tony talked about how they have roots in classical music, and how they are “currently just rap at the moment, but don’t be surprised if PNTHN breaks into an actual punk band.” They want people to know that there’s some really good talent in San Marcos, and it shouldn’t be pushed to the side. TwoHorizonRa notes that the goal is to “push the boundaries and change peoples perception, because I feel like the old heads hate new music, and then a lot of new kids hate old music, and I feel like we like both. So bridging that gap and showing a new way to create music in general.”

PNTHN first released the album [from disorder…] in 2017, and followed it up this year with their EP, Potluck. They also released the music video for the song Chumbucket from Potluck, which can be seen here. Dc4prez describes how [from disorder…] and Potluck came about: “With from disorder we didn’t come into it knowing we were even making a project. We were just making songs with our friends and having fun and ended up making a tape out of some songs that we created in that period. The funny thing is that we literally changed the whole tracklist of from disorder like a few days before it’s release to put some new heat on there instead of the older ones. This whole process was disorderly, hence the title. With Potluck the plan was to create a more cohesive and consistent sounding project, so going into it we had a sound that we wanted to carry throughout. We wanted to showcase this new southern sound that Por Vida cultivated and Romby added to on some songs.” You can listen to [from disorder…] here, and Potluck here.

All of the members of PNTHN are so down to earth. They’re this awesome, hilarious, eccentric group of guys who genuinely seem like a family. You can tell that they legitimately love what they do because every project that they come out with, be it a music video or an album- is so unique and catchy. They have an electric energy that draws you in, making you want to learn more about them and listen to everything that they’ve put out. Honestly, before I went into this interview I was really nervous because my knowledge about them was limited to their music and Twitter content- which makes them seem a bit intimidating, but within the first few minutes of talking with them I felt super comfortable. Don’t let their tweets fool you, they’re all very nice and they have a great sense of humor. They’re all brilliant in their own way, and it’s amazing that this group of brilliant people were able to get together to create the type of music that the industry is severely lacking.

When I decided I wanted to interview PNTHN, I had only checked Spotify for their music, meaning I only listened to Potluck. During the interview Jedi suggested that I listen to [from disorder…] on SoundCloud, so I did. I was at work when I initially listened to it and I thought it was really good, but Potluck was still my favorite. I tweeted about it, and Jedi pointed out that [from disorder…] is comparable to the Salty Spittoon (SpongeBob) and Potluck is comparable to the Weenie Hut Jr. (also SpongeBob). In my mind I was really confused as to how that could be true, because Potluck has more of a sensual vibe to it in my opinion. My thought was that if I were at the club and they had been playing the Potluck EP, I could grind to that, whereas if they were playing [from disorder…], it would just get me hype. Anyway, I had this thought process that maybe I was wrong and Jedi had a point (he is one of the artists after all), so I listened again. He was definitely right. The [from disorder] album could be rated MA, while Potluck could be rated T. [from disorder…] is now my favorite project out of the two, and I really love Cloud, Nosferatu, Box-Mash, and Zaboomazooted. My favorites from Potluck are: Chumbucket (obviously), Vigilantes, Mewtwo, and Bunta. It’s rare for an artist to put out two projects that are authentic and that sound great, but that’s what PNTHN has done. It just further proves that this is a group of incredibly talented individuals. The dedication that PNTHN has to their art is admirable, and I’m so excited to see them succeed.