ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A group of Albuquerque music producers is looking to pave the way for other artists in the area. They started a record label after seeing the music scene grow and believe the talent in Albuquerque can stand up to that of bigger cities.

Abraham Cuzner, who also goes by Ibou, is an up-and-coming hip-hop artist.

“There is music in Albuquerque. There’s so many different genres, there’s so many DIY venues. There’s such a big scene, and it’s getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” he said.

Cuzner’s not the only one who thinks the local scene is growing.

“Albuquerque is ready for this and I think we could really put it on a national level, similar to Austin and LA,” said Zach Spalsbury.

Spalsbury and his friend created Maple Street Records just a year ago and it’s really taken off. The record label concentrates on highlighting local hip-hop and R&B artists.

Drew Mitchell joined the team to help bring in talent, and Cuzner is the first signed artist on Maple Street Records.

“We are still learning to adapt to his style and having to build around it, which is helping us a lot and helping us improve,” said Mitchell.

Cuzner said he’s proud to be a part of a new movement in Albuquerque. He believes this could be the start of something much bigger.

“They’re going to be booking a lot more shows, they’re going to have a lot more artists and it’s really going to become a staple of Albuquerque, I think,” he said.

A year of hard work later, Maple Street has signed fifteen Albuquerque-based artists. They said it’s only the beginning of a plan to make themselves and Albuquerque well known in the music industry.

“Creating a large team for Albuquerque, just a team that has this common goal of making it a national music destination,” said Spalsbury.

The guys plan on expanding to a studio in Downtown Albuquerque within the next six months.

Maple Street Records also gained some attention from music bloggers in Los Angeles. They said a popular music blog re-posted one of their original songs back in December. Ever since then, they said things started to take off.