Tiny Interviews: Jon Rubio (Los Mocochetes)

Tiny Interviews

Tiny Interviews is REV 89.5's own DJ Tiny’s podcast, featuring real conversations with artists and culture movers who are outside putting in work. It focuses on craft, roots, discipline, and what someone truly represents. 

Special Guest: Jon Rubio

Jon Rubio is a Chicano drummer, rapper, and producer rooted in música tradicional mexicana and raised on 90s boom bap. He’s not just rapping over beats; he builds the rhythm from the ground up, with live drums, percussion, and organic instrumentation, layered with heavy basslines and raw hip-hop drums that knock. His flow carries that barrio storytelling energy, and his production blends folkloric melodies with modern trap textures without losing the cultura. He also holds it down performing with Denver’s Los Mocochetes, where his drumming and stage presence add real Chicano funk power to the sound. Every lane he steps in, drums, mic, or production, it all feeds one cohesive identity.

In January 2026, Rubio launched his own independent brand and record label, Conciencia. Conciencia means consciousness, and that’s the foundation of everything he’s building. The label focuses on conscious artists and uses music, media, visual art, and wearable expression as tools to raise awareness, foster unity, and promote peace in politically tense times. It’s about moving with intention and representing the community with clarity.

Rubio has built a strong name in the Denver arts scene. He’s been featured in Westword and 303 Magazine, appeared in a live segment on Channel 9 News Denver, and received radio support from KGNU, The Drop 303, Colorado Alternative 93.3, and Indie 102.3. He performed as Indie 102.3’s Local 303 Artist of the Month during Latino Heritage Month in September 2023, was selected to perform at the 2023 Denver Fashion Show, and in 2026 appeared at 2MX2’s Next Up Denver showcase at Lost Lake Lounge.

At the same time, Rubio stays deeply connected to the Indigenous art community in Denver. He has performed at AyaCon Denver, an Indigenous artist-focused comic convention, and dances with his Aztec danza group, “Huitzilopochtli,” which performs annually at events like Breck Create’s Día De Los Muertos.

Rubio represents his Native Mexican heritage openly and supports movements such as Abolish ICE and the broader Chicano Rights Movement, and that commitment shows up directly in his lyrics. As he says, “Music is expression. If I don’t use my platform for my community, I am doing a disservice to my people.”