Meet Eddie Choppo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eddie Choppo. 

Hi Eddie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Being that I’m a first-generation Mexican American who grew up in such a diverse community, I struggled greatly with identity and realizing who I was as a kid. When I was with my friends & in school, it was hip-hop music. When I would be back home, it was Vicente Fernandez or Tucanes De Tijuana. American pop culture fascinated me because it was something I wasn’t used to seeing in my household. It was up to me to bring the American influence back home and introduce it to my family. Throughout the years, these experiences have shaped me into embracing the multicultural aspects of my personal identity. Growing up, art is something I would always naturally gravitate to. And I mean all art. I knew I wanted to be an artist of some sort one day. I tried music, drawing, painting, etc. until about 5 years ago I picked up a camera. I started to take pictures as a hobby to hopefully produce higher quality content for myself for social media, but slowly everyone began to have a liking for my photography. I figured, if people liked what I did, there was a money opportunity here. One day I got the idea of just fusing my newfound hobby with the love I have for music and offered my friend who was an aspiring rapper a free music video. As unsure as I was about the outcome, surprisingly enough he & I were both immensely impressed about the final product. Fast forward 4 years later and I have now accumulated 100M+ views on music videos and content I’ve created & gained almost 11k followers on Instagram. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been everything but smooth It’s been more of a rollercoaster ride. For me personally, the biggest struggle has always been the times of uncertainty or “what if” moments. Especially at first when you’re not where you want to be, which I still have yet to accomplish. Learning to balance my emotions has been my greatest battle in all this because, in the end, this is my passion. There’s going to be times where you feel like you’re on top of the world and there’s going to be times where you feel like you’re at rock bottom. That’s just what comes with chasing a dream. And all of life really. Like all artists, when we feel like things aren’t going our way, there’s been so many times where I’ve thought, “maybe I should just quit,” but it’s been my conscious that tells me to “just keep going, you got this!” that’s kept me balanced through the journey. The journeys over the moment you give up. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Right now, I would say I’m one of the youngest & most recognized music video directors in the Mexican Industry, and my goal is to fuse my Chicano & American culture along with my deeply rooted Mexican culture through the power of film. I feel like through the years what’s helped me stand out in my industry is the ability to take practices & ideas used in hip-hop style videos and introducing them into the Latin industry. 

What was your favorite childhood memory?
When I was younger, I would travel to Mexico often, and one day my grandma took me to the city to eat Mcdonald’s. I have this day locked in my brain storage so vividly because I remember how much of a delicacy it was to eat a Happy Meal in a 3rd world country. We traveled in a bus to get to Guadalajara, walked through the city’s downtown so she could buy her grandson a Happy Meal. As soon as we stepped out of the restaurant, rain began to storm all over us. We had no car or anywhere to go, so we had no choice but to wait for the bus. 15-30 minutes passed and by the time it got there my kids’ meal bag was soaked, and all the food fell through the bottom of the bag which now had a giant hole in it. I got into the bus and just sat there all upset with an empty stomach. Good times. 

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eddiechoppo.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/eddiechoppo?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/ElBarrioOfficial

Image Credits
@benny.blanco