Meet Private Stock, The Chicago Hip Hop Label Forged From DIY Passion

Before neighborhood friends Herson Escobar, Jason Valcarcel, and Luis Arroyo had their own recording studio to call home, they were simply dreamers. Growing up in a rough neighborhood in Chicago, the boys that would go on to create independent hip hop label Private Stock grew up being told what they couldn’t do and what they would never have.

“I remember my teacher making me and my cousin stand up in the middle of the class and pointing at me and saying I was going to be a gang banger,” says Arroyo, “Nobody thought we were going to open up a studio and do what we were doing.”

“When we started the company we didn’t get a bank loan or whatnot, we didn’t seek professional help. I learned a lot of skill sets to hold the team down. Web design, anything creative. Whatever I needed to learn to pick us up I did.” Adds Valcarcel.

Through sheer force of will, the trio that became Private Stock turned themselves from a back porch pipe dream to a full-blown business. And then they rose from the ashes after things took a calamitous turn, demonstrating their fighting spirit.

Watch the video to learn more about Private Stock’s journey in this latest episode from our Salud to Summer series, created in partnership with Modelo.