00:00
You know, Dominicans are all arms.
00:01
They don't got legs,
00:02
you know. You go to the gym,
00:03
it's all, it's all biceps.
00:04
Go hang around. You go to,
00:05
in, in where I grew up in the BX.
00:07
Everybody's around the arm and chest machines.
00:09
They don't go the leg machines is like empty because they go
00:12
to the gym and sit down.
00:13
They don't go. They don't,
00:14
they don't run, bro.
00:14
Why are you working out on a polo?
00:16
Why are you working on a polo shirt,
00:18
bro? Well, welcome back to Mi Gente Latino.
00:26
We are here with 54 Ultra.
00:29
How are you? I'm good.
00:32
it's great to finally have you on because,
00:34
fun fact, I've been trying to make this happen for a
00:40
I slid into your DMs during Coachella around weekend two,
00:45
and by pure coincidence we were coming back from.
00:49
From the festival. I was with my parents and we had
00:53
just seen you just perform.
00:56
Danny, I feel like I might be seeing things,
00:59
but I think that's him.
01:01
You were in the lobby and I go,
01:03
54 Ultra. And you looked at me,
01:05
you said hi to the family.
01:07
And you were just so nice.
01:09
I'm so happy that we're here finally.
01:11
I'm glad to be here too.
01:12
I'm very happy to be here.
01:14
Your family is very sweet.
01:16
Yeah, so the best part about that was that was not
01:18
the last time. Next morning we're getting in the car.
01:22
I hear this tap on the window.
01:24
54 alter right to my left.
01:27
It became that was the second week,
01:29
right, that you saw him,
01:31
the first week, bro.
01:33
You have to save it,
01:35
we had to run to the stage,
01:36
right? What time was it?
01:38
I had to push a couple MacKenzies out the way,
01:41
find my spot, and I was like,
01:43
I'm watching, so I feel like I won't be able to
01:45
do this. The way I'm doing it right now,
01:48
like this close. Well,
01:49
I'm glad you did it.
01:50
If I knew you were there,
01:50
I would have pulled you up.
01:51
No way. I should have.
01:53
You should have gone crazier.
01:55
Should have shot that shot.
01:55
I should have shot that.
01:57
No, but I'll tell you,
01:58
my parents, this was their first Coachella,
02:01
and they could not stop talking about your set.
02:04
I haven't told them I'm interviewing you.
02:05
They're gonna geek out,
02:06
but especially when you.
02:08
Sang Hector Level, that meant something very special to them.
02:12
I don't think they ever thought they would be hearing an Hector
02:14
Level song at the festival,
02:16
so, and I saw the internet went crazy,
02:20
introducing Hector Level to a whole new generation.
02:23
Thank you. How did that feel?
02:24
It was great, it felt fun to do.
02:26
I used to sing in a salsa band in New York for
02:28
so I, for me that was like.
02:30
It was second nature just to do it because I'm used to
02:33
doing that kind of stuff,
02:33
but I didn't realize that it's a very New York thing,
02:35
you know, and to bring it to LA is on a
02:38
stage like Coachella and the,
02:39
the stage that's like historically,
02:41
Latino, the Sonora stage.
02:43
I wanted to do it right,
02:45
it is true. It is very New York and as a
02:47
Colombiana salcera, it's in our bloods,
02:50
but it's mostly at home or in places like La Escar Escaria
02:54
Capicua. So thank you for that.
02:56
So like I mentioned,
02:57
my whole experience there watching you,
02:59
the crowd was locked in.
03:02
Well, what moment like that scene,
03:03
like what, what was this feeling that energy for that first
03:06
time, bro, because I,
03:07
I saw people switch,
03:09
switching, what was the song Heaven,
03:12
switching back between English and Spanish.
03:16
that's him right there,
03:17
you know. How did it feel?
03:19
It was great. It was beautiful,
03:20
you know. I could tell from right when I stepped on
03:21
there. I knew that it was going to be a good
03:23
time and we prepared very hard,
03:25
you know, for a long time,
03:26
so. And we had just been touring for the last year
03:29
so we were, you know,
03:30
we were locked and loaded,
03:32
and it felt good to see,
03:33
just seeing all these happy people,
03:36
whenever I do my shows,
03:37
it's like, you know,
03:38
it's my show, and I know they're coming to see me
03:39
and say hi. So when it's a big one like that
03:42
I didn't know what the reaction was gonna be,
03:43
and it's funny because between acts it kind of got really empty
03:47
like while we were setting up it just like cleared out and
03:49
my friends that were on stage,
03:51
it's done. They're like,
03:53
we're done. Because we just thought it'd be empty and then
03:55
the second it was like time everybody came right back in.
03:57
I was part of that group that ran in.
04:00
We were fighting demons outside.
04:04
I was like. There was like a second we were mortified
04:07
we weren't gonna get in,
04:08
but I know that stage really well because as you said,
04:10
it's historically Latino. So every year I'm always fighting to get
04:13
in. You go through the special because there's a seated section
04:17
You go right there and then you get into this little
04:19
corner and that's how you make it right to the front.
04:21
So easy. That's the trick with that.
04:24
I like that the seated thing that you're talking about.
04:25
Oh, that's where my parents sat and they had their zoom
04:28
on and they were on you the whole time recording.
04:32
Perfect. And on Facebook Live.
04:37
WhatsApp. That's so funny.
04:38
But it was a good time,
04:39
you know. That's it.
04:40
So you've got Puerto Rican and Dominican roots,
04:43
Jersey upgrade upbringing.
04:45
How does all that show up in your sound even without it
04:51
you know, growing up listening to that kind of music like
04:52
bachata, merengue, salsa,
04:53
they all have a certain flow and the even like the song
04:57
I realized over time like I kept making songs and I realized
04:59
I was just using that structure which is kind of funny where
05:02
it's just like verse verse and then a big cho choro at
05:06
the end, big chorus at the end to ride it out
05:07
for two minutes, you know,
05:08
and I, I realized I'm doing that in indie music and
05:13
you know what I mean,
05:13
it's kind of interesting.
05:16
But you know, aside from that,
05:19
the percussion, the rhythm of it,
05:24
my friends say that I'm naturally like ahead like of the beat
05:27
which is kind of funny because in salsa you gotta be
05:28
really on top of it and my friend even told me that
05:31
last night. He was like,
05:32
I realize you're naturally like ahead.
05:34
You're like, you're like,
05:36
you know, moving quick and I didn't realize that.
05:38
I think I'm just bad at music,
05:40
but for him he was like,
05:40
No, you just got to like,
05:42
bro. I remember hearing you and I'm like,
05:44
Yo, where's this music been my whole life?
05:45
Like shazamming it and I'm like,
05:47
the cano the the que pocas this music guy from.
05:51
And then you know I was fortunate enough to go catch her
05:53
in Coachella, so I was ready and,
05:56
and your band, your bands from,
05:58
from everywhere as well which I think.
06:01
I think really adds to that sound.
06:03
Where I mean, are you still with that same,
06:05
same band? They're from all over,
06:08
right? Yeah, we have a good,
06:10
a good group of guys,
06:11
you know, they're all from,
06:12
I mean, LA as itself,
06:13
you know, you've had to find a lot of,
06:14
you know, incredible people that are from everywhere.
06:16
So we compiled the best musicians around and we ended up,
06:19
you know, with guys from Peru and Colombia and And,
06:22
Puerto Rico and Brazil,
06:26
the, the American guys that we got are all from New
06:30
California, Memphis, and we got a good group,
06:33
you know, and so it's just like a a good
06:36
combination of all these different cultures just to because what is Latin
06:39
music anyway, you know,
06:40
what is salsa, what is Latin soul in a way it's
06:45
African and Latin rhythms combined with jazz music and American music,
06:48
and that's what we're doing.
06:49
And we have to talk about your look,
06:52
where does, I mean we don't,
06:55
we don't have to if we don't want to.
06:58
But your style, you have really good style and your hair
07:02
is always looking beautiful.
07:05
I mean we talked a little.
07:06
Bit about it during our our picture day,
07:08
but tell me a little bit of where that comes from.
07:10
Is it family driven?
07:11
I guess again I would see pictures of my family and I
07:13
thought they looked cool.
07:14
I saw pictures of my uncles and I,
07:16
I thought they looked cool.
07:17
You know what, I'll send it to you if you wanna
07:18
double impose it bro.
07:19
I have a picture that I'm like I can photoshop you in
07:22
and you won't be able to tell.
07:23
No, I like the flow.
07:25
you know, like I see pictures of my family.
07:27
I, I, I love that you say that because when
07:29
I first saw you on stage I swear it was my dad
07:33
in the pictures of the album that I would see growing up
07:35
that we still have at home and all of my theos and
07:38
I'm like oh my God it's him it was you but oh
07:43
I love swag it's fun,
07:45
you know, it's a fun,
07:46
it's a fun idea and I think especially like.
07:48
Because especially if you go to these countries,
07:50
they still have that energy at least a little bit,
07:51
you know, they see the vejitos walking around and they're still
07:53
wearing like they're lowkey wearing bell bottoms and like these 70s shirts
07:56
because they don't, that's all they got,
07:57
you know, and I love that energy,
07:59
you know, and I think it's just the best style of
08:02
I love that. And your parents,
08:04
you, we were talking about it.
08:06
Your dad is Puerto Rican and your mama's from DR,
08:09
right? Right. And they met here or they met,
08:14
in New York. They met in New Jersey.
08:16
In Jersey, but their first date was in New York.
08:24
And what part of DR is your mama from?
08:26
My mother's from a little town called Navarete.
08:29
It's near Santiago, so it's in the in the north.
08:39
OK. So that's the vibe there.
08:43
Yeah, you were born in Jersey.
08:47
You go back a lot or not?
08:49
You go back to DRPR or the same amount.
08:52
I grew up going to DR a little bit more actually.
08:55
honestly, but my father and I,
08:57
he's got Dominican citizenship,
08:58
citizenship. He's got,
08:59
you know, a lot of work in Dominican Republic,
09:00
so we kind of just He thinks he's Dominican in a funny
09:03
way, but then when it comes to like PR versus DR
09:05
he's like, Chacho Papa,
09:07
when it comes to the World,
09:08
when it comes to the World Baseball Classic,
09:10
no, exactly. I got PR hat on.
09:11
Yeah, he got the PR hat.
09:12
I sent them to the games too.
09:15
I took my dad to two of the games in Puerto Rico
09:18
my dad and my father.
09:19
I told myself years ago I was like,
09:20
I'm gonna work hard enough so by the time the 26 comes
09:22
around I'm gonna be able to take them to the game on
09:25
which one you went to the Miami ones or no,
09:27
Puerto Rico. You went to,
09:28
yeah, yeah, you did it right in,
09:31
in Harambitor. You did it right.
09:34
We did that and then my,
09:35
and then for my mom in Miami,
09:37
I sent my mom to the ones to the DR and Venezuela
09:39
game. And DR in Japan.
09:41
So do you remember like the first song that was like,
09:43
Yo, I wanna make music?
09:45
What was that? What was that song that was like,
09:48
the how many? Let me pick up a mic or right
09:52
There's a lot, you know,
09:53
and, I grew up singing a lot just like and
09:56
my parents would sing like just for fun.
09:58
It's like they didn't know that they were singing well,
10:00
but they could, they were,
10:00
they had good pitch,
10:01
you know, so it was always fun and I,
10:03
so I always like singing,
10:04
but I think like Like I'd sing like Obsession and that was
10:07
always fun to do to try to get really high again.
10:11
I couldn't tell you.
10:11
It's just the idea that one song,
10:13
yeah, it's hard to say because it's,
10:14
it's moments, you know,
10:15
it's like I was 15 and like Fetty Wap became this huge
10:18
guy and that was inspiring to a lot of people to like
10:21
wanna be rappers and I was like,
10:22
I don't wanna be a rapper.
10:23
I wanna make the beats and I like Gucci Mane and I
10:26
read this book by one of his producers named Zayo from his
10:29
name is Zayo, so I read his book and that was
10:32
made, well that's what made me wanna do it.
10:33
And then from there I evolved into like I've always listened to
10:36
but then. In the 2000 late 2010s,
10:39
like early, but right before the pandemic,
10:41
I was getting into like indie music for the first time,
10:43
like indie rock stuff,
10:44
so I heard like Steve Lacy and Tame Impala and that made
10:47
me wanna learn guitar.
10:48
So it's like Steve Lacy stuff made me wanna sing and Blood
10:51
Orange made me wanna really start singing.
10:53
People often, I mean,
10:55
will first come to your shows and kind of say,
10:59
Damn, I feel like I was born in the wrong generation
11:03
kind of bringing me back a little bit while still
11:05
being in the present.
11:06
Do you feel that a bit with,
11:08
with the music that you've created?
11:11
I, I think it's the opposite.
11:12
I'm glad to be born in this generation,
11:13
just, just because I,
11:14
I wouldn't have been able to study from all the good stuff
11:16
that has existed. If I was born in the 90s,
11:19
bachata would be this whole new thing,
11:20
you know. And then I'd be like,
11:22
Aventura, are you serious?
11:25
all those dudes. No,
11:26
exactly. Patterson legend,
11:28
you know. And there's an art to preserving it and also
11:31
creating the new, the future of it.
11:34
At least I feel like when I was a bit younger as
11:38
a Gen Z, I was scared that I was going to
11:39
be stuck listening to just what my parents listened.
11:42
Into with kind of no future to it and with sounds like
11:45
yours I'm like oh no it's so mucho mucho mas pararearar gosar
11:53
because I think our generation needs to dance more.
11:55
We need to, we need to go out this generation doesn't
11:58
dance is everybody's got their phone out and everybody's too insecure to
12:01
dance. I had a sidekick back in the day.
12:04
The walls, I remember I had my boy had a,
12:08
bro. The walls were white after we were done partying.
12:11
They would be like blue from the denim of people dancing on
12:14
the wall. That shit don't exist no more.
12:17
I don't know what's wrong with that.
12:19
Like what's, what's good with the party scene now like.
12:23
I, I remember I used to do auditions and they would
12:25
ask me what makes you proud to be Colombian and I would
12:27
say that we dance and that dancing doesn't mean I'm in love
12:30
with you because I just dance with you.
12:32
Dancing is friendship. Dancing is respect unless you dance 3 bachatas
12:37
in a row with somebody.
12:37
3 in a row is 3 in a row.
12:39
We're picking out baby names.
12:40
No, 3 in a row is pretty demon because then you
12:42
get into merengue and then you get into merengue and then I
12:48
Then I feel like I've led people on.
12:51
Bro. Alright my brother,
12:58
so we're gonna, we're gonna,
12:59
we're gonna do a little rewind right now and we wanna go
13:02
back to before you were 54 Ultra,
13:04
so you corrected us,
13:07
You were working in Quick Check in Jersey,
13:09
so we wanna go back to those days.
13:12
How old were you when you started working at Quick Check and
13:14
what do you remember the most out of those shifts?
13:16
Well, listen, there's two levels to that because my father
13:19
owned a gas station in Patterson and Exxon on 21st Avenue.
13:23
And I, he would drop me off every morning to hang
13:25
out there because my grandfather was there and all these Puerto Rican
13:28
Dominican guys were there and I just hang out with them and
13:30
a lot of Colombians that lived in that area,
13:31
a lot of Colombians,
13:32
a lot of Colombians hanging out,
13:34
and I would go there and I clean windshields at like 1213
13:36
14 years old just for tips so I could buy my
13:39
own sneakers and I'd see every once in a while like a
13:42
rapper would come. I remember like Alex Cation came one time
13:44
or like Fetty Wap came one time or like,
13:47
like those guys from 1051 came in one time,
13:49
and I'd see them and I'd be like,
13:52
I wish I could be like that guy.
13:54
And then, so then fast forward,
13:55
I'm working at the Quick Check in Sparta,
13:56
New Jersey, and then,
13:59
10 years because I needed money,
14:01
you know, and I knew how to pump gas.
14:03
That's the only thing I knew how to do.
14:05
when I started to sing and dance and stuff,
14:07
I would perform there.
14:08
I would sing there and I would,
14:09
I would sing for people and I would tell people like if
14:11
I see a guy and a girl in their car I'd be
14:12
like, Yo, you should listen to this artist.
14:14
It's good for like when you with your girl and he'd be
14:17
like, Oh, what is it like 54 hours and you'd
14:18
be you. I'd be putting them on,
14:23
I, I put on like music over the speakers and I
14:25
just, everything like,
14:26
you know, disco and like salsa,
14:28
merengue and bachata, bro,
14:29
you might need to go,
14:30
go back to like a solinera,
14:32
bro, and do a little video there song like bad money
14:37
that place isn't, isn't,
14:38
isn't lit enough for any of that.
14:39
But my brother just went there recently,
14:41
my younger brother, and he was like.
14:42
Everybody, he's like,
14:43
people come up, went up to him.
14:44
He was like one of our friends works there still,
14:46
and he's like, Did you know 50 Folks used to work
14:48
here? Like they were saying that.
14:50
they better put a black,
14:50
they better put a picture of like your employees in century Aqui
14:54
the black and white picture with the signature like a laundromat.
14:57
That's what I gotta do.
14:59
pay your respects for that.
15:00
I write, I wrote songs there,
15:02
I wrote songs there and I'm saying like I wrote a lot
15:04
of songs there and I worked hard at.
15:06
I would sit there and just write,
15:06
you know, and think about things and make voice memos to
15:09
myself and I'd work from 2 to 10 p.m.
15:12
and then, or 10 to 6 a.m.
15:13
and then those times I would just listen to music and come
15:16
home and just work right after.
15:17
And I mean, looking back at your time then working,
15:22
what did that teach you about this moment in your career and
15:26
like how has it led to,
15:28
I mean you don't get,
15:28
you know, you don't get to assistant gas manager overnight
15:31
you know, and that you get that key,
15:33
you get that, you gotta work to that.
15:34
It takes soul, takes a lot of determination,
15:37
takes a lot of work,
15:37
you know, getting up early,
15:40
so I did the same thing here,
15:42
I, I used intern at a recording studio.
15:44
I went to community college and I worked at a recording studio
15:47
and at this gas station all at the same time.
15:49
So it'd be like 8 hours doing this,
15:51
and another 12 hours in the studio overnight.
15:53
And mind you, the gas stations in Jersey,
15:55
not like here, you know,
15:58
the attendants don't want pumping.
16:00
You don't get I'm outside.
16:01
I'm sitting outside in between cars.
16:06
That's what honestly I fell in love with Jersey for that reason
16:09
because in Colombia I see.
16:12
You pull up, you get,
16:15
They go cuanto quierres fill her up 87 and unaor,
16:20
you know, tetratambien here in LA you got to be a
16:24
big girl. You got to go.
16:25
You can't go. And as a girl when I go alone
16:27
I got to make sure I go before 3 p.m.
16:29
because it's, it's tough out there.
16:32
That's what I'm saying.
16:33
I like, I like doing it,
16:34
you know, I like being the guy to do it,
16:35
make sure everybody's OK,
16:38
you know, like I am a,
16:39
I, they start to get out.
16:40
get out, get get in the car because it's lawful because
16:45
you know, I said you shouldn't be doing that.
16:46
You know, your hands get dirty.
16:47
That's let my hands get dirty and I'll do it for someone
16:50
in their twenties who's working a job while chasing a bigger dream
16:54
What advice would you give them?
16:58
everybody says the same thing,
16:59
like don't stop or whatever,
17:00
but in reality, it's the ones who don't make it the
17:01
ones who stop, and that's really it,
17:04
it's, it's never if but when it's always that it's if
17:08
it's because it's challenges is OK,
17:10
you know, that makes you a better person.
17:11
It's also you learn the most that way and time.
17:16
It's about how you spend your time,
17:17
you know, and how much you love something.
17:20
but it's true. Chase your dream because you never know.
17:22
I don't, I'm new to this stuff.
17:23
I don't know what the hell happened,
17:25
but all I did was work and I worked with all these
17:26
things, and I combined it all,
17:27
and I just never stopped.
17:29
Like I didn't let anything get in front of me.
17:30
I never had any excuses.
17:32
I have to go to the gas station.
17:33
I can't think of music.
17:36
figure it out. It's like you can,
17:37
you can work on photos while you do schoolwork,
17:39
you know. It's hard.
17:39
It's very hard. It's scary,
17:40
scary, but You learn how to do it.
17:43
Well, it's time for Drop the lore where we unpack the
17:46
stories behind your songs.
17:48
We wanna talk about one of our favorites,
17:51
especially when you switch it up to the Spanish.
17:54
What headspace were you in when you wrote that song?
17:56
When I wrote that song,
17:58
I was just, that was usually when I write songs,
18:00
I'm usually like extremely emotionally compelled and they come really quick and
18:04
I'm just like, like blabbering to myself,
18:06
yeah. Yeah, writing,
18:08
writing, writing, but that one I really had to work
18:09
for. I was like really trying to like write a song
18:12
how do I write a song?
18:14
And that was, that's what I did.
18:15
I, I wrote that and I was thinking of like these
18:17
boleros, like vibes,
18:19
you know. I was thinking of like Fernando Villalona and Joe
18:22
Batan and Los Elmanios,
18:24
Elmanos Rosario. I'm just thinking of these guys like just on
18:28
a vibe. Was there a real person behind it or was
18:33
funny, that's the first one that was really nobody,
18:36
yeah. Someone is like,
18:36
I gotta write something.
18:37
Let me like, I mean,
18:38
what is there, is there usually someone that you're writing to
18:43
OK. That's the only way to communicate for me.
18:44
I mean, that's the only way.
18:45
but it's hard for me to,
18:47
you know, it's fun to just fantasize and yearn through the
18:50
music because usually that stuff wasn't for other people.
18:53
I didn't expect people to really like it.
18:54
Next up is Talk to You.
18:57
this is the one I'll be playing on my imaginary
18:59
piano conoto when I'm driving.
19:01
I've seen piano. I'm at a red light.
19:03
I'm going crazy. Yeah.
19:09
what vibe were you in when you made this record and where
19:11
were you and what was the inspiration?
19:15
the group another, so shout out to guys,
19:16
Jesse and Oz, and I was with my friend Jackson and
19:19
my other friend Billy.
19:20
And we just, I think they found me on Instagram or
19:22
something and they reached out to me.
19:23
this is like my career is still new,
19:25
but they, I was still,
19:26
you know, doing my thing and right before my first tour
19:30
it's funny. This is how it happened.
19:31
They first reached out to us and I was like,
19:33
I don't know house music.
19:34
Like I, I'm not sure,
19:36
and I was really insecure.
19:37
My team was just like,
19:38
guys, like go try it.
19:41
but first they were like,
19:42
they're gonna go to a house in the Hamptons.
19:44
OK, that sounds fun.
19:47
Oh, I've, I've never been there.
19:49
you know, house music,
19:50
I'll do it, you know.
19:51
And then it was like,
19:52
oh, as it gets closer,
19:53
it's not the Hamptons,
19:54
but it's upstate New York.
19:55
OK. Like Hudson Valley or something,
19:57
like Lake George, or we have a lake house or something
19:59
And then on the day before it was like,
20:01
alright, it's in this town called Warwick,
20:03
and I'm like, I love Warwick,
20:04
but the thing is that that's like it's like 20 minutes from
20:08
So I like, I was like,
20:09
oh yeah, in the Hamptons and so I and I was
20:14
still down, but I was like.
20:16
I look at my friend.
20:17
I'm like, All right,
20:18
let's just go. I'm like,
20:19
these guys seem nice.
20:19
Like they, I've watched our interviews.
20:21
I'm like, they seem cool.
20:21
So I'm like, let's go hang out with them,
20:23
see if we make something in Warwick,
20:26
Yeah, I guess we did anger local.
20:28
Oh, it's like song in the summer.
20:30
I'm only still getting used to that idea.
20:32
It's a blessing, you know.
20:32
We wrote it together.
20:34
bro. We made dinner for them.
20:35
They made dinner for us.
20:36
We spent the whole day like.
20:38
I'll show you pictures.
20:39
We were in the woods,
20:40
you know, it was like just this wood house where it's
20:41
like they rented all the equipment and it was,
20:44
we all just made take turns like adding ideas to the song
20:46
That's dope. Another compliment to add song of the summer
20:49
last year, that was the whole debate that there was no
20:51
there was no song of the summer.
20:52
That's right. There was no song of the summer.
20:54
Like everyone was like,
20:55
you know, everybody was bored as hell.
20:58
This summer's been good.
20:59
What are your comments in the video of,
21:01
of the YouTube? That's all you hear.
21:03
That's all you see in the comments when you put top or
21:04
newest song of the summer.
21:06
So listen, I'm listen,
21:08
I'm, I'm just happy to be here,
21:10
We didn't know that.
21:10
We just, we made it in September in,
21:12
in the woods, and now it's like all this tropical and
21:15
stuff, and it's great,
21:16
and I think, I mean,
21:17
I've heard, I heard it for the first time here in
21:19
LA outside like the other day.
21:21
That's a big compliment.
21:21
I went to this bar for 2 seconds and I went in
21:24
and I heard it and I was like,
21:26
same. I anywhere I go,
21:30
bro. Putting people on.
21:33
I'm putting people on.
21:34
I need it. That's the song I sneak in like,
21:36
yeah, I give you two dumbos and you're gonna listen to
21:38
my boy, you heard we're gonna go through 23 songs right
21:41
now. You got your field team here.
21:43
We know there's a potential.
21:45
Music video a lot of people are waiting for coming,
21:49
but I know there's an album in the works.
21:53
I'd love to talk about it if you could spill what you
21:56
can share what you can.
21:58
Oh my God, you know,
21:58
I forget people like that stuff,
22:01
so I'm, I have to get used to that idea.
22:04
I'm making an album for sure.
22:05
I wanted a nice body of work or a period of time
22:07
in my life, you know,
22:08
and. It's coming for sure and it's gonna be very you
22:12
know Latino influence in there and it's gonna be I've been
22:16
very much I've been very into like Argentinian rock music and like
22:20
you know so that world and that those sonics is where I'm
22:23
really what I'm shooting for.
22:24
I'm just trying to make soul music and Latin soul and pop
22:27
music a little bit differently that's all so and we're gonna,
22:30
I think I'm doing it.
22:31
I really, I really do you are but even now more
22:34
than more than you even.
22:35
You haven't even heard,
22:37
And I'm gonna, I think I'm pushing the line a little
22:39
bit, but we'll see what happens.
22:42
I'm trying. We out here,
22:44
wait, I have to ask,
22:45
and you know, do you reveal your real name at all
22:50
John Anthony gang. I'm Gene,
22:55
John Anthony Rodriguez together because my mom put my my whole 11
23:00
name my mother, yeah,
23:01
it's supposed to be one something.
23:02
It is extremely it is because,
23:04
yeah, like it's if you're gonna,
23:05
if you wanted it to be my middle name,
23:06
then you're supposed to put it where it says M and put
23:08
the C there. They didn't do that.
23:10
So your name is Giancarlo,
23:11
Jean Carlos Gian Carlo all together Jean Carlos,
23:15
but you only go by Gene,
23:17
yeah, who's gonna say Jean?
23:19
I would say it if you Jean Carlos,
23:20
the whole thing. Gene is cool.
23:22
Jean Carlos, what's your last name?
23:25
Fernandez Gian Carlos that's like 20 characters.
23:28
That's why all my IDs are all mine is mine is as
23:30
terrible. Mine is missing everything.
23:32
Mine has the same thing,
23:32
20 characters. I didn't know how to spell it till I
23:34
was like 14 on the scantrons in school.
23:37
You can't even do it,
23:38
you know. There we go.
23:40
But no, John Anthony Rodriguez.
23:41
Hey, you guys could be primos Rodriguez.
23:44
We are primos, yeah,
23:46
yeah, I got no middle name either.
23:47
It's crazy. I don't,
23:49
no, they don't do that.
23:50
My mother's, you know,
23:50
it's funny because my,
23:51
my grandfather's name was,
23:53
Juan, and the other one was Antonio.
23:54
So they put it together that way for me was there's too
23:57
many juans in my family.
23:59
My mom bought a vow when I was born,
24:01
Gene, we're gonna change the u for an e.
24:04
Genius, genius, genius.
24:06
The rest of your family,
24:07
they all have Janie.
24:08
Yeah, we all have genes.
24:10
all right, all right,
24:11
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go,
24:12
I'm gonna tell you a Dominican name right now.
24:14
I got a nephew named Jathan Fier.
24:18
You ready for the next one?
24:21
J A J I A N Lucas Gian Lucas.
24:25
Gian Lucas. All right.
24:26
And then my brother loves Dragon Ball Z.
24:28
He got a Janzan with a Z,
24:35
let's see, we got Wilbel Wilfrido.
24:39
Here we have Juan Miguel.
24:40
Miguel Angel. There you go.
24:42
Uno de loo navarete shout out John Richa and I'm John Anthony
24:48
John Anthony and then my brothers are Joseph.
24:51
And Jaden and Justin,
24:53
yeah, yeah, all my sisters,
24:55
me and my, my brother and all his kids are Jays
24:57
and my brother John Lewis.
24:59
I'm Gene, so that's another Dominican,
25:02
not stereotype. You're gonna keep it going.
25:04
I'm keeping the Jays going going.
25:05
My dogs, my dogs' names are Jason and Jackson.
25:08
Oh yeah, they still.
25:12
No, my brother's having a,
25:13
a little girl and he's trying to figure out the name.
25:15
The girl, he's trying to do the girl work.
25:17
My sister's like, why?
25:20
He's like, we gotta,
25:20
we have to, have to.
25:21
So she's like, because it's the same initials.
25:24
I think for me it's JF.
25:25
Mine is mine. All my,
25:27
my siblings and my father's all JAR Joseph Anthony Rodriguez,
25:31
John Anthony, but I don't have a middle.
25:32
Mine's the only one without the middle name.
25:34
My brothers have their middle name.
25:37
You're not gonna get into.
25:39
And my mom did that.
25:41
My name is Daniela Maria.
25:45
Oh my God. Not to compete.
25:47
What is it, Daniela Maria Vasquez.
25:49
What is it? Velasquez Sanchez.
25:54
OK. Daniela Maria Velasquez Sanchez.
26:00
You got it. You got it.
26:02
All right. So for the first time ever,
26:04
I'm handing you the papucho hotline.
26:06
So you're gonna take a beat,
26:08
leave a little voicemail for someone special,
26:14
Papucho's coming. You.
26:25
Gotta get them calling cards.
26:26
OK, everybody, look,
26:27
I love you guys very much and I can't wait to
26:30
see you all very soon,
26:31
you know, keep supporting and then I'll,
26:33
I'll support you and,
26:36
you know, I think we'll,
26:37
I'll see you very soon.
26:38
you know, don't forget to say hi if you see me
26:40
around. Hey, and how's your,
26:43
tell your mother I said hello.
26:44
don't be rude. Thank you.
26:47
Papucho signed off. Wow,
26:50
I don't know. I don't know how I would act if
26:52
a papucho called me and told me to say hi to my
26:55
there's like levels of papu and you have a class on the
26:59
papucho. So there's papuciviri,
27:00
papucheo, papuchong. Like I gotta add it on on on
27:06
urban mira yo ta ta papachado majina yotaba laquina you see like
27:10
that's how you use it like puccheo papucciri yo salida hueo de
27:14
lo yanqui yo salid play ok yota laquinita yo caminava yo pabucheo
27:20
to sabbamo papuciando coo.
27:24
Damn, yo, you hearing this?
27:26
He's making it work.
27:29
I don't listen. If you want to put papucho on a
27:30
shirt or papucciri, I don't know.
27:33
Loco, that's all you,
27:34
bro. lo papucho out here.
27:37
I'm really into the word papucho because pappy for so long has
27:46
but that's why you're combining papucho and for me pappy is me
27:59
I love papucho. I really like it.
28:02
I thought it was papasote or something.
28:03
I like papasote papalote papasito.
28:07
That's and then, oh no,
28:09
no, wait, there's papa chips.
28:11
That's my favorite one.
28:12
I know you heard me say papa chips because I add the
28:15
you know how we add the ITS to things like cognes
28:20
so that's Dominican as well.
28:22
I feel like the the adding the it's to anything,
28:25
yeah, I grew up adding it's to anything like culets.
28:28
Latino, it's, you just add the it's to any word
28:31
you want and it's so I've got one last question for the
28:34
Dominican. I know you're getting like you're surrounded right now.
28:36
I know we got to ask about the Colombian stuff.
28:38
I like pandebono. I love pandebono.
28:41
Noche. I took her to Noches.
28:42
She had a moment in Noche,
28:43
you know, there's a place in Colombia too.
28:45
It was like Savo de Colombia or something like that.
28:47
That's really good, yeah,
28:49
there's a lot of Colombians,
28:50
you know what Elizabeth too.
28:53
Home in Jersey I felt more at home than LA because there
28:56
were so much where they are.
28:57
They're all there. I'm like,
28:58
oh my God, I go eat there because of the waiters
29:01
they're so nice. Oh so nice and make you fall in
29:04
love. Yeah, exactly.
29:05
Ordering lunch, bro,
29:07
don't get me started with the ones in Engle.
29:09
No, but I do have a question to the Dominicans.
29:12
What do you feel about the Dominican stereotypes online or like?
29:17
You know there's a love for you first.
29:21
I miss the old stereotypes.
29:24
we're a little zesty now,
29:25
but we're not all zesty or like the tight jeans,
29:30
I don't think we're ever gonna,
29:31
we're never gonna let that down because it's real.
29:33
They all get the fake Ferragamo loafers with like express jeans and
29:36
like a Zara shirt and it's like perosi's esotaqueda.
29:39
it doesn't. I'm like,
29:42
I used to work at at Garden State Plaza.
29:44
Oh my God, at Club Monaco.
29:46
I can't tell you how many dudes used to come in on
29:48
Friday with the same pair of sneakers with the same outfit,
29:52
and I'm like, I'm like,
29:54
I built the outfit 10 times,
29:55
and you guys are all going to Dykeman,
29:57
and you guys are all gonna run into each other and do
29:59
the Spider-Man me. I was like,
30:01
I gave you guys the exact same fit,
30:06
we can't live it down.
30:07
It's just what it is,
30:08
you know. So it's real,
30:09
but yeah, it is real,
30:10
unfortunately it's very real.
30:12
the secret family stuff,
30:13
I feel like that end of the generation,
30:15
you know, like I'm not keeping that tradition going because that's
30:17
the other story. Yeah,
30:18
we can't let that rock.
30:19
We have to be good guys and we actually go to therapy
30:21
I don't have a secret family.
30:23
I don't have a secret therapy.
30:25
I do. I love my mother,
30:27
me too, but not too much,
30:28
you know. That's what the issue is,
30:29
you know, and I talked to my dad.
30:31
Green green flags all around and we do our best.
30:34
That's been, you know,
30:35
there's been some talk in the past about,
30:37
oh, you're Dominican from the Bronx.
30:42
I think today, where's your family from in DR?
30:44
So my dad's from San Jose de la Mata.
30:46
That's like Campo, and then my mom's from Santiago.
30:51
they met out here in like the mid-eighties.
30:54
They grew up like in Washington Heights and then,
30:57
you know, I grew up in the Bronx.
30:58
But in DR, do you like las Aguilas or lise no
31:01
Aguilas. There we go.
31:03
Aguillucho, yeah, that's aguillucho.
31:06
I was repping that all the time.
31:08
So that's your team as well.
31:09
Yeah. What I want from DR is better soccer players because
31:12
I would love it won't happen.
31:15
I mean, you know what,
31:16
you know, Dominicans are all arms.
31:17
They don't got legs,
31:20
you know. You go to the gym in,
31:22
in, in where I grew up.
31:23
In the BX, everybody's around the arm and chest machines.
31:26
They don't go the leg machines is like empty because they go
31:29
to the gym and sit down.
31:29
They don't go. They don't,
31:30
they don't run, bro.
31:31
Why are you working out on a polo?
31:32
Why are you working on a polo shirt,
31:34
bro? Why y'all all hanging around?
31:36
Why y'all hanging around the machine?
31:37
Y'all not even working out.
31:39
Y'all just don't want to go home to your wives.
31:41
Oh, remember that stereotype ended.
31:44
That stereotype ended. No,
31:45
but those guys are still going.
31:46
Those guys are still keeping it alive like.
31:50
as a Colombino, we love our Dominicans.
31:52
I think everyone loves Dominicans and hopefully Dominicans love everyone.
31:56
Everybody loves Colombians. Everybody loves Puerto Ricans.
31:59
Everyone loves everyone. Everybody loves everybody.
32:04
where can the audience follow along for what's to come?
32:07
You find me everywhere at 54 Ultra everywhere,
32:10
54 U L T R A A very easy.
32:13
Bueno. Well, also before.
32:15
Before we leave, we do have to hit a migente
32:18
Latino just because that is that is our that is our our
32:23
our title. Shout out J Lo though.
32:26
My dad had a picture of J Lo hung up in his
32:27
office for a long time.
32:29
Yeah, my mom had a crush on A-Rod and my dad
32:31
had a crush on J Lo,
32:32
which is crazy. And then they got together and that's how
32:35
my parents, that's my parents look.
32:36
He never gave her the anillo,
32:37
you remember she was asking for the anillo.
32:39
Your parents were meant to be,
32:40
yeah, they very much were like.
32:42
Each other's vibe. Well,
32:44
tell your mom that we were on J.Lo's pod.
32:46
You were on J.Lo's podcast.
32:47
I mean this isn't really J.Lo's podcast,
32:49
but it somehow has her blessing.
32:51
We asked her about it.
32:52
Farmers drink. All right,
32:56
so on the count of 3,
32:57
uno dos tres mi gente latino with 54 Ultra,
33:02
which I can ask y'all.
33:04
Thank you guys. Thank you.
33:05
Thank you for having me.
Series