who is gigio?
I first introduced Gigio in my Spread Love Feature, earlier this year. I’ve mentioned him on this blog, and have been talking about him to my peers and confidants for a while now. If it’s not obvious already, Gigio is one of my first clients with the Papa Lo Down, and an artist I believe in and fully support.
Is he the next messiah of Hip Hop? I’m definitely not going to hype him up with that title, but I do think he’s a diamond in the rough and was inspired to work with him on his sophmore album Church Musick (official release date 11/4/08).
Now, this entire process is new to me… working with an artist that is building their fan base from ground zero and new to the local Bay music industry scene as well. Basically, no one knows who he is!! It’s my job to change that, and help Gigio build relationships with other artists, DJ’s, producers, community organizers, editors, etc. I’d like to take you on that journey with me, and share the marketing and branding ideas, tools, etc. that I think will help Gigio get closer to reaching his goals. Hopefully you will apply this information to your own career.
One of the first steps you should take is creating an FAQ sheet. FAQ’s are “frequently asked questions”, this should be very basic information (who, what, when, where, why, how), that gives people a snapshot of who you are and what your music is about. I formulated FAQ’s for Gigio to answer and posted them on his blog. These FAQ’s serve as a background for editors and interested parties to have information on Gigio and also to pique interest in him as a person, not just an emcee.
Where are you from?
I was born in San Francisco, but raised in Fairfield, California - aka the Flats, aka the Field, in the 707 Solano County area, right next to Vallejo.
What is your ethnic background?
My ethnic background and culture is primarily Latino, but I have history all over the world. My dad and his family grew up in Puerto Rico, with roots stretching to Venezuela, Italy, and Spain. My mother and her family are from Nicaragua, with roots stretching from Panama, Persia, and Africa. My experience growing up has been surrounded by the Latino culture. Spanish speaking relatives, rice, beans, and tortillas, merengue music, Puerto Rican machismo, and Nicaraguan sarcasm. My dad came to the US to start a new life as a young man. He was with the U.S Air Force for a few years, and left in search of something else. He lived a pretty fast, crazy life and eventually ended up in San Francisco, CA. In the 80’s there was a war in Nicaragua, so my grandparents sent my mom to live in SF with some close relatives. You can guess how the rest of the story goes… Puerto Rican man meets Nicaraguan girl. Puerto Rican man marries Nicaraguan girl. Puerto Rican man and Nicaraguan girl give birth to a bad ass.
What artists/music have influenced you?
I’ve been influenced by so many and I continue to be influenced by old and new music to this day. My first real experience with music was Michael Jackson’s Thriller, I loved that shit as a kid. I didn’t officially get into hip hop until the 6th grade listening to Tupac, Biggie, Nas, Big Pun, Jay-Z, & Eminem. And then a little later, it was Mos Def and Talib Kweli. And as I grew older, I started diggin’ deep into the underground and old school roots of hip hop, everybody from KRS-One to Ice Cube to Public Enemy, from Atmosphere to Brother Ali to MF Doom to Opio, and I’m constantly inspired. I have way too many favorites, and the one thing I love about hip hop is that it breaks barriers as far as sounds and tempos and subject matter goes. There’s no preset rules for the way it should sound, with Afrika Bambaataa taking music from German records, and Madlib taking music from Indian records, i’ve learned to appreciate all genres of music.
When did you decide to pursue a career in music?
I guess it would have been in the 9th grade when the hustle started to become real to me. There was a lot of rappers at my high school, and I had always rapped on the low. I wrote songs and recorded them secretly, but I didn’t really show them to anybody. Then when high school rolled around I seen some dudes battlin’ each other, and I thought in my head, ”Those dudes are wack, I can rap better than them”, so I just jumped in and did my thang. There were hella rappers at school, but none of them were recordin’ their own shit. I decided to make a CD, burn hella copies and sell ‘em, it’s been routine since.
How did Hip Hop influence your career?
Well, my path was always going to be art from the start, that was a sure thing in my head. When I was five years old I was drawing dope ass cartoons of Bugs Bunny and shit. By the time I was nine I was making my own comic books. Eventually, I got into acting when I was 12 and have a background in theatre. I used to do community plays and did a few in high school. I was really good, I played Tevye in “Fiddler On The Roof”, Tom Joadin in “The Grapes of Wrath”, Grandpa Martin Vanderhofin in “You Can’t Take It With You”, and I played the white dude in “Raisin In The Sun”. I actually wanted to be an actor but had a lot of bad experiences with the directors, I didn’t feel free to express myself because you have to follow the script. I wanted to write my own scripts and the entire time on the side, I was always writing raps. Once I realized how free I was to express myself with hip hop, there was no other option for me.
What is your current album “Church Musick” about?
When I think of the meaning and purpose of church, it’s very similar to the purpose of a nightclub. People work hard all week, right? Life takes them through crazy obstacles and what not, and at the end of the week, they feel so much weight on their shoulders that they need to get lifted. So they go to the nightclub to work it out, just like they go to church to work it out. When I wanna work out my problems and feel lifted, I do it through music, ”Church Musick” is a reflection of that.