Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Henriquez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mark. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
When I was a kid, my mom was an addict. Growing up with a parent who’s addicted to drugs, you see a lot of things you shouldn’t see as a kid, like addicts coming in and out of your home to dealers pulling a gun on your mom because she owes money. The way I coped with the madness was with my writing, since I didn’t express myself to people, rap was the outlet that kept me sane for the most part.
But when she started getting heavy into drugs, I couldn’t take it & decided to start living with my grandma who was down the street. Eventually, however my mom lost her apartment and moved in with my grandma too, so we were right back to square one. One night we hit a breaking point though when she owed money to a drug dealer and he pulled a gun on her. My older brother ended up calling the cops on him. There was helicopters and at least ten cop cars at our small apartment, it was a sight to see.
That night I made a vow to myself that I was going to break the chain of addiction in my family and get them out of that environment with my writing, that’s been my driving force ever since. Not too long after that incident my mom got sober and is now one of my best friends and biggest fans. My music career took to a whole other level when I decided to write a song about my mom’s addiction story and incorporated her in the video. It went viral on Fb with over 5 million hits and even made headlines on FOX 11 news. Since then, I’ve been able to create music as a full-time gig. Before COVID, her and I used to go to different organizations to tell our story in hopes of helping others who struggle with their past.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Along the road to be able to create music full time Is a lot of self-doubts. I found myself focusing more on the obstacles rather than the outcome, that alone will drive anyone mad. I kept imagining the worst like, what if everything I’m building falls? How long will this last for? Who am I to think I can be successful? Those were the thoughts that almost drove me into depression. I notice that’s a common trend amongst creatives, we’re way too hard on ourselves. But tight when I was at my breaking point and was about to quit making music, I met a mentor who changed the way I viewed life. I saw the way he lived life on his terms & made millions doing so & I wanted to know how. So he took me under his wing and expanded my thinking. He started teaching me about law of attraction, manifestation & introduced me to Tony Robbins, he even paid my way to see him live. After all the mentoring, I realized that it was myself who was getting in my own way, not the worlds. I took ownership & decided that I was going to not only live off of music but thrive off of it. I’m at the point now where I make more money than my parents do doing what I love, its a really beautiful feeling.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I make music that deeply connects with people, I tell my story in art form and people really connect with it. I’m not afraid to talk about the depression I used to deal with or the anxiety, I’m an open book. Recently I’ve been gaining a lot of traction because I rap to my customers as an Uber Driver, those videos get millions of views. I basically have a hidden camera set up and rap my songs to them, some pretty amazing things have happened. For example, I rapped to a girl about heartbreak in one of the videos and she started crying because her boyfriend cheated on her a couple of weeks prior. Thankfully she loved the song and the whole experience, it was really beautiful and you could tell it was very healing for her. I decided to start making videos like that because I thought it was creative & not a lot of people have the confidence to do something like that, I wanted to set myself apart. I have about 7-8 Uber Raps out now and the viewers are loving them. I started doing those around August of last year and went up neatly 700,000 subscribers, crazy what a little creativity can do.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I probably would have believed in the process more. I was overly focused on what I didn’t have so I never noticed the abundance that was all around me. Looking back now, I realize I should have cherished a lot more because there is beauty in the struggle, even though it may not feel like it at the time being.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @Gremlinraps
- Facebook: Facebook.com/Gremlinraps
- Twitter: @Gremlinraps
- Other: Youtube.com/Gremlinmusic24
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.
