Ok, so we can’t seem to keep to asking just ten questions.
LEWY is a Cuban-American Rapper who caught our attention.
Here he talks about his influences and inspirations which fuels his creativity.
Where are you from?
I am a from Los Angeles, California. Born in Woodland Hills, raised in Sylmar California.
Tell us about your childhood, teen years. and your background
My parents split at a very young age, and from that I got a hell of an experience. My mother’s side of the family was growing up in the hood, Panorama City. Tattoos, gangs, drugs, and love all at the same damn time. My dad’s side of the family, I grew up in Sylmar. Go to school, or Get a job, but you are gonna do something! You can say I got the best of both worlds. And I wouldn’t change it if I got the opportunity. My teen years, I spent being an athlete. I didn’t know what music really was during high school. My father played for the Oakland Athletics, so baseball was in my blood. It wasn’t until I stopped playing baseball that I was able to look back, and ask myself how I got to where I was. It wasn’t until I was around 18/19 that I realized that music was the only reason I was here. Music was always my escape from my childhood, and any dark situation I was in at the time. If it wasn’t for music, I wouldn’t be able to understand myself. Coming from a Cuban background, where our country breath’s, eats, and lives music, it’s no surprise it became my air. There’s always a story to tell, I’m here to tell mine. My grandparents were born in Cuba, and lived in Bayamo. From Cuba, to Miami, to Cali they Brought a story, and created a legacy built off of Family and love. Raised from an older generation, unknown to what is now, I learned true values that would help me to what is now my future in Music.
How did you get your first break in the music industry?
I got my first break in the music industry, when I built the confidence to really know I could do this. As I found my team, and new-found family, as I tightened down the sound to what Lewy has been turned into today, doors started opening and attention started buzzing. I started noticing more and more peoples interest in our music, story, and what we had to bring to the table. More people wanted to share the story, and more and more people believed in my journey.
You have great music in the marketplace. What is your game plan to take your career to the next level?
My game plan to take my career to the next level, is to get the world to hear my music. In this industry it never stops, it never sleeps, and if you want it, you have to want it. If we have to knock on every door to get the world’s attention, then so be it. Social Media is todays biggest platform for music, so creating music videos, grabbing every blogs attention, getting fans from across the world to share my music is the game plan. We will git every source and take anything that bites.
Professionally, who is your biggest influence and why?
My biggest influence in music, has always been Eminem. There’s always a story to tell, and there’s always more to it than what you can see. Eminem’s style is telling a story. And not just telling it, but making you experience it. Feel the real emotion, and understand the point, the message, the reason the story was being told in the first place. Against all odds, no matter what is a stake, if there’s work to be done you get it done. Emotion is the base of my music, and music is where I express my true emotion.
Say you could not be in entertainment, what would you do with your life?
Honestly, I’m not sure I could hide from entertainment. Whether it being in film, as a Director or Editor, Whether it be an Athlete, baseball player in the MLB, I think entertainment is where I would be no matter what. BUT deep down, I love building with my hands. So, if it wasn’t entertainment, I think it was be in construction. As an Architect, or possibly an engineer, I love to be creative.
Who or what inspires you?
Today’s influencers of the world inspire me. Whether it being my parents, my family, my coaches, teachers, philosophers, entertainment icons, or random human being on the street. If you can change the world, a little bit at a time, if you can influence someone to be a better “you”, if you can hype someone up and get them excited about life, you inspire me! Work inspires me, accomplishments, goals, and having reason inspires me. The idea of being creative in any way, shape, or form, to build something from nothing is the fuel to my fire.
You have released great songs like “All About You” & “Summer Daze”. Walk us through the creative process for writing, recording, and promoting these singles?
The creative process for songs like “All About You”, “Summer Daze”, and/or any other song I write, always starts with an experience. A song like “All About You” was inspired by a girl, as most of my songs are. But whether it be a feeling of emotion, or an actual story at hand, I just want people to feel how I felt at that moment. I want people to know the real reason I wrote the song. I’m a person of great detail, and I believe in the big picture, BUT if there’s one little dot missing from that picture, it changes completely. So, in telling my story, there’s a reason to every lyric I write, note I hit, falsetto I sing, or tempo I ride with. And getting the listener to truly understand why to each and everyone one of those is what I always have in mind when I write my music. When I record my songs, I put myself back in that moment, I can see exactly how everything happened when it did, like a movie, and I narrate that experience through emotion with my vocals.
Tell us about your Team and how they’re helping take your career to the next level
I couldn’t ask for a better team. When I first met my Producer, Anthony “Soundboi” Reeder, we instantly clicked. He didn’t really believe me when I first told him I rapped, but 4 years later we have created 2 albums together, and amazing music together. Having the same love for 90’s R&B, and influencers like Eminem and J. Cole in rap, when we create music and tell the story, we do it the way we want too. Whether I come to him with a story, or he comes to me with the sound, we know exactly where the vision is headed. My manager, Errol Ryan, was added to the team a year ago but has been there since day 1! Believing in the project, with the dedication and hard work, the team wouldn’t be where it is now. Ryan pushes us to new levels, and is the fuel to this team. Loyalty and love is the foundation of our team, and it runs thick. From my graphic designer, Ralphy Anthony Casillas, My Visuals Director, Rich Bella, everyone has been there since day one, and has made me a batter me, and a better artist.
Your next single is “Baila”, Tell us all about how this single came about and give us a behind the scenes view of your video shoot for the song?
Our new single, “Baila”, is all about the latin culture. Me being a Cuban-American rapper from Los Angeles, I wanted to tell that experience. What its like to be in a latin family, and how the little things make it all worthwhile. All we need is food, music, and good company, and we have a fiesta! And not just the family is invited to latin get together, the whole neighborhood is. It’s all love! Everyone is our cousin, or family member, and we love to get loud. When creating the music video, I wanted to make sure people could see just that. We displayed what it’s like on a hot summer Saturday in Los Angeles, and what it’s like at a latin house hold! No matter what issues, or bullshit you have going on.
What is the best and worst career advice you’ve been given so far?
The best advice I’ve been given so far has been to not stop, no matter what. And the worst advice given has been to change my style into being something I am not.
What advice would you give a young up and coming recording artist?
I would tell any young up and coming recording artist, to know exactly the reason why they are creating music, and believe in it more than anyone else. If they don’t believe it, no one else will. People will feed off of your energy. And if there’s no truth in your energy, people will know right away and you will fall.
What is your game plan for releasing more music in the future and how you plan to promote future singles, EP, etc?
Our plan right now is too release a single every month, for the rest of the year, with possibly a music video for each song. This new wave of music is what I call, “Graduation Season”.
If five years ago, you knew then what you know now. What advice would you tell yourself?
If 5 years ago I knew than what I know now, I would tell myself to have hit the social media market a lot harder and a lot sooner, and to have networked a lot more.
Who would you like to work with in future?
I would love to work with my inspirations of rap like Eminem, Drake, J. Cole, Nipsey Hussle. To be able to work with the people who influenced me would be amazing.
Is there anything that we didn’t ask you that you want to talk about?
Being born and raised in LA, I rep LA, always! and I love baseball. But I’m not a dodger fan. I love going to the games, but I am a New York Yankees Fan. I followed one of my favorite baseball players of all time, Derek Jeter.
Please give us your socials.
Instagram : @lewymusic
