I was born in the beautiful, tropical country of Honduras, a small nation located in Central America, bordering Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, where my mother’s family is originally from. I’m part Brazilian as well from my father’s side but my brothers and I were all born in Honduras where my parents met. In all honesty I love the culture of my country of birth, as well as the Spanish language which is my mother tongue, and there’s few things better than relaxing at the white sandy beaches in Tela or the Bay Islands, but apart from being an amazing country in many aspects, rich in natural resources, it’s a real shame that Honduras has to suffer so greatly from government corruption as well as large crime and homicide rates due to gang activity, drug smuggling, etc. It always feels as if, amidst such a vibrant, radiant culture, lies a dark, unfortunate truth, which is known and acknowledged by all, but ignored, or accepted and treated as a normal part of life, since it’s understood that it cannot be changed. The haunting reality that death is all around, unperceived but there nonetheless, surely has a profound effect on the consciousness, or the subconscious, of the country’s inhabitants. For various reasons, with three young children to raise, my parents emigrated to Vancouver, Canada around the time I was ten years old, me being the oldest of my siblings. That changed my life in various ways, both beneficial and detrimental, as I grew up getting myself into tons of trouble, not really appreciating what had been done for me, and fighting my own inner demons in a strange world that only kept getting stranger. I’m blessed now to see how all my troubles, whether at home, at school, at work, in relationships, or with authorities, all stemmed from an incorrect attitude towards life; an attitude of deep ignorance of all that is truly important and worth pursuing. When the mind is not occupied with worthwhile subjects, it will follow in the footsteps of the masses, being guided wherever the crowd goes. What I’ve come to realize is that eventually, all of life’s victories and failures, all the mistakes we make, realign into perfect harmony, and everything balances out in the end.
Growing up in Vancouver I became obsessed with hip hop. I just remember becoming obsessed with music in general, ever since the good old days when getting stoned was a novelty which felt actually like tripping, and music sounded so good I could pick up every note as I listened in utter amazement. To this day, my love for all genres of music has grown and continues growing daily. Although no music is as relaxed as Bob Marley, or as psychedelic and epic as Pink Floyd, there is nothing that can compare with hip-hip in a few ways. Hip-hop has always blown me away though since it makes you just move, voluntarily or involuntarily, you begin to move. Your head, your feet, whatever it is. The rhythm of hip-hop has the power to move one’s soul. Rhythm is so important to rap, that the word “rap” in itself is actually an acronym for “rhythm and poetry”, or at least it is to me, so that was the title and concept of one of my earliest mixtapes. The other amazing thing about hip-hop is how much content can be fit into a verse, more than double the content of what could be sung by an R&B singer on the same track. There are many examples of this in collaborations between rappers and singers. A forty-second verse in a song can be used to make a bold statement, if every syllable is packed in with a meaningful word, instead of resorting to curse words in order to complete a rhyme. I often feel sorry for listeners of modern-day rap, who have to bear the dumbed down raps of the so-called “entertainers” that are praised today by mainstream hip-hop culture. It seems amazing to me how I grew up on hip hop and knew all there was to know about it, but along with my love for rapping as a form of expressing ideas and thoughts, feelings and concepts, I grew accustomed to a lot of negative aspects of hip hop culture, which I’ve written about in the past. I’m not sure why I felt like writing about this today, but I might revisit the topic again and go deeper into it. I appreciate you reading and hope you’ll do the same tomorrow! Much love.
rebel eye 