Meet Frankie Gonzales a.k.a FrankieOG

Today we’d like to introduce you to Frankie Gonzales a.k.a FrankieOG.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My love for music started at a very young age, I remember being about 6 or 7 years of age when I asked my mother to get me a stereo and a few CDs for Christmas. One of those CDs being “Confessions” by Usher. I played the album through countless times, I memorized every song & dance Usher had on that CD. That particular album meant so much to me at the time because my parents were going through a horrible divorce. The music helped me understand a lot of things that couldn’t be explained to me at the time, and It was very relatable to what was going on in my home. That was the first time I had experienced how powerful music truly was.

Growing up in the High Desert area of the Inland Empire there wasn’t much to do, or many places to go. During my first 2 years in high school, when school was out a few friends and I would get off the bus go to my house, play beats, freestyle, and just chill. Those backyard sessions are where I found my talent. I would just lose myself in the music and express everything I felt with ease. It was natural for me.

It wasn’t until the age of 18 that I took my music seriously. I had just graduated high school and had no idea what I was going to do. For about two months, I sat around and just thought about where I wanted to work and what I truly wanted in my life. I ended up moving to South Gate CA with my dad and right away started working a regular job. A few weeks passed & I just so happened to run into an of my old friends from high school. After speaking for a few minutes we discovered we weren’t living to far from each other, & he also told me he had just finished setting up his in home studio! After our first session I released my first single “All Gas No Brake” on Soundcloud. It got more love than I ever expected it to and after that whole process I fell in love with creating my art. From that day forward, I kept going and haven’t looked back. I am 22 years old now.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
My journey has most definitely been filled with its ups and it’s downs, Which i’m sure alot of artists can relate to. But I would say the l first two years of my music career were filled with the most hardships, constant fights with my parents, my mom going through a second divorce which lead her down a horrible road, unstable jobs, being kicked out of my home, living in my car for months. Those are only a few issues that I had to face, but through it all I never gave up. I always trusted and still do trust that my work ethic and my talent will take me where I need to be. Don’t let the hard ships break you, make them build you.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
Well my name is FrankieOG (OG being my favorite strain of weed) I am a fully independent artist, performing artist, and I also write all my own music. I would describe my music as very lyrical, I love to get deep into my thoughts when I write my music, I hold nothing back, and I never sway away from being vulnerable. The topics of my music are very different than what most artists my age are talking about today. Most rap music of today doesn’t have much substance to me (which is fully opinion based) so I always try to keep my music very deep, very raw, and always inspiring. I truly just want to motivate and help those who can relate to me through my music, as do all the artists that I listen to today do for me.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Yes, there is definitely more than a few things I would go back and do differently. But if I had to chose, I would have definitely taken my music career a lot more serious than I did when I was in my teenage years. I would have established myself professionally a lot sooner, I also would have studied the music business a lot more than in my past years. But we live and we learn!

Contact Info:

• Email: Frankieog@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frankieog97/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/frankieOG97
• Other: https://linktr.ee/FrankieOG

Image Credit:
Photos by: Aesthetic

Suggest a story: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.