An Inspired Chat with Aid Alonso

Aid Alonso shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Aid, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
I started rapping as a kid as a way to express myself. No one had told me before “you can’t rap”, because no one in my environment knew what rap was, so it was for me an empty canvas to express myself without expectations.

Over the years this opened a door for me to explore my voice in other ways like singing. I was finally able to tear down some walls and gain new tools for my artistic expression. This not only nurtured my songwriting and interpretation abilities but also caused an identity shift in my artistic persona, which was also influenced by migrating to the US.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Aid, a rapper, singer, and songwriter based in Long Beach, originally from Spain. I worked as a professional rapper for nine years in my home country, earning several music awards, including the Heineken Greenspace Music Contest in 2008, iTunes Single of the Week, Myspace Artist of the Month, and Kellogg’s Márcate un Squares contest. I released several albums in Spanish and Galician: Jugando (2008), Rapoemas (2012), Hacer Lo Que Quiero (2013), and Aprendeo (2011), the latter becoming the most listened-to song in the Galician language. I also spoke at CSULB TEDx in April 2016. Lately, I’ve been working behind the scenes on new music, learning, and solidifying a new transitioned artistic identity.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
No one. I remember being 14 and one of my songs going viral, with TV and radio stations calling me, being invited to talk with famous musicians in my hometown, and thinking everyone was playing a prank on me and laughing at me. It wasn’t until I started seeing money coming in, performing concerts, and meeting people I respected who invited me to their albums and included me in their music that I realized I was actually doing something that mattered to some people. I received a lot of messages of support and I have a lot of heartwarming stories of this era. I had a lot of attention and the impact was evident, but I was never able to enjoy it fully or even believe it because I didn’t have that support from my close ones.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
There’s two ways to go about it. Some people become bitter, some people become better. Not feeling heard growing up made me become a better listener, because I wanna be for others what I want others to be for me. It made me look for a way to express myself through music and art. If it wasn’t for that void, maybe I would’ve never find so much relief in writing, and maybe I would’ve never done music. Intelligence for me is the capacity of channeling struggles into a positive outlet like art. And that’s what real artists are, tormented souls that channel their pain in a positive way.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
I think everyone in any country should spend 2 years abroad as a part of the school curriculum. This is the most important lesson I’ve learned in my life. Everyone should understand and respect differences and integrate them respectfully in their own world. There’s a reason the entertainment industry is successful in multicultural areas, and you only understand that when you’ve lived abroad. If you always listen to the same music, and always hang out with the same people, you’re not gonna create anything good. Good artists season their music with all the flavors they have.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you understand deeply that most people don’t?
Music is about connection. Artists are people that are good at feeling and expressing and they create art that makes other people that feel less, feel something. It relies on empathy and it’s a form of communication and sharing between humans. We haven’t figured out how to make machines feel, so AI isn’t gonna replace artists. And I don’t think that’s gonna happen any time soon, because we haven’t figured out the map of the brain, and until we do that we can’t replicate it in a machine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aidvigo.com
• Instagram: @aidvigo
• Youtube: @aidvigo