As if the area rap/hiphop scene wasn’t buzzing enough these days, a threesome from Bowling Green is making more noise and getting the attention of major record labels. In just two years of existence, Below Zero has come to the edge of playing for national attention — and like Nappy Roots before them, they’re doing it with an appeal broader than that of most current icons of their musical form.

So far, the trio of Warren Central teens — Julius “Home Boy” Price, Rod “B Easy” Buford, and Antwan “The Child” Barber — have put out one full-length CD and a five-song maxi single, each of which has sold over 1,000 copies. They’ve done shows ranging from private parties to openers for Nappy Roots and other groups. Their music has gotten the attention of four major labels and a company owned by a former label executive. How the label attention shakes out will determine when, and under what circumstances, the second full-length CD, tentatively named Freezin’ Point, will be released.

According to manager Desmond Bell, Below Zero has been talking with Virgin, Columbia, Dreamworks, and Interscope, and they’re also talking with Artist Direct, a company owned by former Interscope co-owner Ted Field. Bell said that Below Zero and their company Horseman Entertainment are working toward a production deal where the group takes care of production and the label handles distribution and marketing.

Two years ago, Bell was looking to start a company and searching for talent. He didn’t have to look far, as it turned out. While washing his car in the summer of 2000, he heard something in the back yard, where his brother Julius and two friends were. “I heard some commotion in the back yard, and it sounded pretty good,” said Bell.

Those three became Below Zero, and the group got their name from Bell’s mother. She always heard Julius, Rod, and Antwan talking about being cold, so she said they ought to call themselves Below Zero.

The first show for Below Zero was a pep rally at Warren Central High School. They played at the Cobalt Club and the International Club, as well as their own parties. Below Zero released their first CD Frostbit in September 2001 and held promo parties at the International Club. Bell said the group has sold between 1,000 and 1,500 copies of Frostbit to date. Below Zero also got airplay from that CD on WKU’s campus radio station.

The big show came last April when Below Zero was tapped to open for Nappy Roots and n2Abyss, both Atlantic Records artists, at the National Corvette Museum Amphitheater. They got that gig through promoter Darrell Lee, who was selling Frostbit at his business All Things Audio. It was a welcome surprise for the group, since they knew Lee only as someone who let them sell their CD at his business and not as a promoter.

As anyone who went to the Corvette Amphitheater show knows, the weather that night was, to put it mildly, inclement. Below Zero did get to take the stage, riding to stageside in a black Escalade, and do their entire show before the monsoon set in (Nappy Roots did not get to perform that night).

Below Zero did an October 10 show at Morehead State University, opening for Nappy Roots. That show last month went well, according to Bell; even though this was Below Zero’s first time in Morehead and was unknown in the area, the crowd “never sat down” through Below Zero’s set.

Bell said the label interest came as a result of sending Frostbit to labels and managers. As more contacts were made, more people wanted to get involved with Below Zero through Horseman Entertainment. Jay King, formerly of Club Nouveau, came on board as company manager of Horseman. Lee Holmes, based in Baltimore, is overseer; he and Below Zero got together through Nappy Roots.

That’s not the only thing Below Zero has gotten by way of Nappy Roots. Julius said Nappy Roots has been an influence, calling them “big brothers” and adding they “let us know that it is possible to make it” from a place like Bowling Green.

When asked specifically about influences, Below Zero professed more factors that motivate them rather than artists that influence their style. Desmond Bell said a big motivator is the crowds, both the people who come to the shows and those who the group hears playing Below Zero music driving down the street. Rod added that they feed off the reaction from their friends and peers who come to, and ask about, Below Zero’s shows. “They put their hands in the air and holler ‘Below Zero’ like we’re big time,” Rod said. Julius did say that B2K is influential from the standpoint of young crowd appeal.

The five-song maxi-single Kentucky’s Coldest came out this summer, and the fans responded. Kentucky’s Coldest sold 1,000 units in the first month, said Bell. The big-time sound of the maxi-single, recorded at Star Studio, hits you just as hard as the well-developed, appealing style and lyrics. Below Zero performs with a strong sense of themselves, use lyrical repetition just right, and explicitly acknowledges the communities in south central Kentucky from Bowling Green out to Hopkinsville and Glasgow.

The opening track “7 Dayz a Week” catches your attention as Below Zero riffs about the routine “Three days I’m grindin,’ two days I’m clubbin’/One day for cuttin,’ one day for nothin’/Three sixty fivin,’ seven days a week/All day, e’er day, seven days a week.” Then they turn to a heavy slow groove fit for cruising for “Big Chevy’s.” Any car lover or cruiser can relate to this picture, painted in sharp detail, of tooling around in your favorite ride with your desired accessories — “No Lexus or Bentleys/Just plush rugs and fifteens.” Perhaps their strongest lyrics are on the hard times track “Cold World.” Below Zero busts about losing loved ones — not just to bullets but to heart attacks and miscarriage — and about poverty (“no money for French braids” when you have to ask “Where’s my wife, where’s my life/Where’s my future to come”). They also praise single moms for holding things together (“We gotta show respect/Cause our moms was tough”).

“IsYaCoolWitDat?” is a self-pumping rap, challenging other guys to see if they were cool with their girls going wild over Below Zero. “Kentucky Anthem” is straight celebration, rapping about places around the state where they and their fans congregate, flying the banner for their side (“K-Y boys off the hook, if you ask me”).

During the current period of seeing how the label interest shakes out, Below Zero is pulling back on performances and working on their stage show. Bell pointed out their reasoning, saying Below Zero has to compete with “the Nellys, B2Ks, and the Nappy Roots” of the genre. He added that Below Zero will probably do another show in Bowling Green with Nappy Roots in the near future. On the recording front, one song for the next album has been cut with Big V of Nappy Roots on the track. Below Zero is pursuing cutting a song with Athena Cage as well.

Bell said that the group is working to include as many types of fans as possible. “People of all ages are gonna relate to our music,” said Bell. “We’ve had a lot of support from the city of Bowling Green — high schools and so forth. We won’t forget, and we’re proud of, where we’re from.”

Below Zero CDs are available at CD Replay and may be for sale elsewhere. For more information on the group, contact Horseman Entertainment, P. O. Box 1379, Bowling Green, KY 42102-1379.

Don Thomason is a writer and musician living in Dunbar. Visit him at www.myspace.com/donthomasonmusic