Andy Mineo: ‘Heroes for Sale’ & the Remix Contest that Kickstarted Careers

Andy Mineo and his Reach Records debut album Heroes for Sale dropped eight years ago today. Although it isn’t a 10 year anniversary, Andy has been quite nostalgic about the project and it was a reminder of a great time for Christian rap and Rapzilla as well.

In September of that same year, Andy, Reach, and Rapzilla partnered together to do a competition for an exclusive remix project for that album (Free Download). The project then dropped in April of the following year.

Some producers who are mainstays in the culture now got their first big break because of this.

From the original article in 2014…

Reach Records gave the instrumentals and stems for the tracks and the result was over 1,000 submissions.

Over the last five months, we sifted through the submissions with Andy and dwindled it down to 10 remix submissions per song. Originally we were aiming for an entire remix album, but for quality sake, Andy decided the result would be a six-song Heroes For Sale Remix EP. The EP is available for free download, exclusively on Rapzilla.com

The Grand Prize Winner – picked by Andy personally, was OnBeatMusic! OB won:
– Song on the official remix EP
– a signed Heroes For Sale skate deck
– the entire Reach Records catalog on CD
– the Reach Records vinyl collection!

OnBeatMusic

OnBeatMusic

For OB, who now hosts Critique Friday’s on Rapzilla, is RMG’s in-house producer, and one of the most prolific producers in the space, this contest win was his launching pad.

“It was definitely impactful to be part of the remix project because it helped my career take off,” said OB. “A lot of people heard of me through the project, also because it was heavily anticipated. Being a part of that just by doing a remix was an honor and it was really humbling. It was a dope project and Andy is definitely one of my favorites.”

Since then, they’ve stayed connected on a personal level and have had a bunch of “almost collaborations.”

“I’ve worked with Andy behind the scenes. We’ve gone back and forth but nothing solidified,” he explained. “I’ve heard different verses over my beats but nothing ever really came out. I’m not really bummed about that though. It’s been cool to connect at a friend level.”

You can catch OnBeatMusic every Friday night on Rapzilla’s IG Live doing Critique Fridays. He also said, “I’m working on a ton of singles and collaborations with upcoming artists and sync placement stuff.”

Listen to OB’s Remix tracks below:

Follow OB on Spotify.

Other artists that were involved and on the remix EP were Quinten Coblentz, Marz Ferrer, Soul Glow Activatur (Family Force 5), and Adriel Cruz (then known as Skrip).

Adriel Cruz

One of the biggest tracks on Heroes for Sale was “Cocky.” It was where Andy really showed out who he is with the full NYer present. Well, that beat was made by a Chicago rapper and producer Adriel Cruz (Skrip). Cruz told us how that beat got into Andy’s hands.

Adriel Cruz

“I had been working with Andy at the time after he saw me perform at The Legacy Conference and soon after created this track [Cocky] off of one of his hook ideas. At this same time, I had used the beat in the Rapzilla Beat Battle at Flavor Fest which was arguably one of the greatest moments at Flavor Fest to this day,” he explained.

He continued, “After I had won the battle I texted Andy like ‘yo, they’re going nuts over the beat, are you going to use it or not because I can sell it tonight for a lot’. He said, ‘YESSS USING IT!!!’ So because the original sound was a shofar that was sampled from a 1970’s film, Reach didn’t have time to clear it so, what you now hear as the main melody is me doing the main shofar sample with my voice instead.”

“To this day anyone who’s an Andy Mineo fan says that’s one of his best. That’s dope. Historic in the Christian hip hop world and cool to be a part of that.”

As far as the remix project, Cruz contributed his version of “Uno Uno Seis.”

“New album this summer with singles leading the way (with art by @alexmdc Tekashi 69 designer) and also launching artist development company – in the works.”

Listen to Cruz’s Remix Below:

Watch Cruz use “Cocky” in the Beat Battle (3:50 mark):

Follow Adriel Cruz on Spotify.

Quinten Coblentz

Quinten Coblentz is a name you see more and more of with every major project dropping in Christian rap. Not only is he a producer, but he’s a dope artist in his own right.

Quinten Coblentz

Some biggest placements to date were on KB’s last project His Glory Alone, but he’s also worked with Byron Juane, Dru Bex, Deraj, and a slew of others.

At the time of the remix album, Coblentz was going by the name Q-PON and was an unknown. However, being selected by Andy as part of the competition changed a lot for him.

“Being a part of the Heroes for Sale remix project felt unreal to me at the time – I had never gotten any sort of placement like that before!” he revealed. “I wasn’t a ‘serious’ musician at the time (hence my cringeworthy former producer name…), but the contest and project were a huge turning point for me. It gave me the confidence to keep pursuing a career in this business.

He continued, “I remember that I made several remixes for that contest, most of them more standard hip hop production. But I wanted to try something different for ‘You Will’, and I had so much fun bringing my rock roots into the song.”

“It’s crazy to see how Andy has gone from the ‘new guy’ in CHH trying to not be pigeonholed as a singer, to becoming one of the backbones of the genre, as well as the major mainstream (and TikTok) success he’s had with songs like ‘Coming In Hot’.”

Since then, Coblentz has become a crucial part of the CHH community and a producer who’s leaving his mark.

“It’s also crazy to think of how back then I was hitting up random dudes on Twitter offering free beats, trying to get started in the music business…and now today, by God’s grace, I’m full-time in music, with an insanely talented team of people around me, doing things I never thought were possible. I feel blessed!”

Listen to Coblentz’s Remix Below:

Follow Quinten Coblentz on Spotify.

Download the project RIGHT HERE or Listen below:

Justin Sarachik
Justin Sarachik
Justin is the Editor-in-Chief of Rapzilla.com. He has been a journalist for over a decade and has written or edited for Relevant, Christian Post, BREATHEcast, CCM, Broken Records Magazine, & more. He's written over 10,000 articles, done over 1,000 interviews, and is in post-production for documentaries on Danny "D-Boy" Rodriguez & Mario "Machete" Perez. He's the project manager of the upcoming video game Run the Court and of the media brand Crimefaces. Justin likes to work with indie artists to develop their brands & marketing strategies. Catch him interviewing artists on Survival of the Artist Podcast & creating videos on his social media channels.
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