Meet Nestor Barrientos of Los Angeles

Hi Nestor, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I fell in love with music at the young age of 6, being introduced to hip-hop and rap music indirectly by my older sister’s. To me the music was calling it was my first attraction to expression and the art form. When I was about 9 years old I heard the song Heartless by Kanye West. For some reason this song triggered something in me, a feeling I now realize to be a craving for poetry. It at this point occurred to me to write my own song, to make my own poetry.

Fast forward 2017 almost a full decade later, I had the confidence to start recording myself and showcase my poetry and music on social media. This decision was a major step for me as I realized with the help of my peers and a very inspiring coach that I could make music a part of my life through a career. My original pursuit was to go to college and find a career in music production. My goal was to eventually work with as many artists as I could and eventually start my own record label. I just wanted to be a part of an art, that at this point of my life had been one of the few consistencies I’d maintained in my life. At the time I had felt that being a part of the industry was the best way to give back to an art form that got me through some of the hardest times of my life.

My first semester in college doing Music production in San Francisco was amazing, it was an undeniable part of the art I love, and still is, however I couldn’t shake this feeling I was missing something. I kept feeling as though there was no passion in my work, I was doing well in my classes but something was missing from the dream that I was chasing. I felt distracted and unmotivated I hadn’t felt the excitement I thought I would. I did everything that was expected of me by continuing my education but it still felt wrong. I decided to make one more video of my self rapping over a popular song at the time. It felt like riding a bike it was one of the quickest verses I had ever written and I loved it. I quickly recorded it with a simple speaker, and my phones camera. It was the first time I had posted anything in months on social media. The amount of attention I got for the video was exponential compared to any of my previous work. I knew the very next day, what I had been missing was my poetry, my words, my writing, my expression. I was so full of emotions, and my next steps were some of the daunting steps of my life.

Picture yourself back as a high school graduate, with all the pressure in the world to succeed, to go off to college and choose a career path to be better than your parents and make choices that would impact your future. Well, not only had I decided to go to an Art school for college, but I was now deciding to drop out after my first year, and with the intention to become a rapper of all things. For months I heard and felt nothing but criticism from friends and even family with only a few exceptions. I was heartbroken and honestly very anxious but I knew I couldn’t show it on my face. If I wanted to succeed and take my next few steps I had to put my head up and take one step after another with every ounce of confidence I had left in me.

After dropping out, I moved back home and got a job almost immediately at a fruit packing house, doing some of the hardest labor work I’d ever done. I had to work hard because I now had a new goal, I would save up as much money as I could and move to Los Angeles to do music full-time. I pushed my body to its limits working from 4:30am to 5:30pm 6 days a week at the age of 18. I was not going to let anything get in my way, I had too much to lose and even more to prove. 6 Months later I made my move, although I fell short and couldn’t move to Los Angeles I did the next best thing I moved to Costa Mesa, about 40 miles south of Los Angeles. It was a step closer and it was all I cared about.

After one of the craziest years of my life, I released my solo debut album, Cutting Ties. The biggest mark of an artist on the industry, my first album and I did it independently, unsigned. I have since released several singles and I now live in West Hollywood. I have come very far, and feel my career has just begun.

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?
Not at all, I’ve had so many ups and downs, struggling to find jobs, being away from friends and family. I think when we are young we dont realize that as we chase our dreams, life continues around you. I’ve had to work 10x as hard to keep up on regular day-to-day life so that I could keep a balance. Its not easy being on your own at such a young age, you miss a lot of family moments. Life is hard as it is and you just have to be even harder if you want things to work. Life will kick you any chance it gets and you have to convince yourself constantly to keep going.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Above all things I am an artist, I write poetry and I make rap music. I make it a point to pour every ounce of passion, thought, and creativity into my words, whether that be to express myself or just to show the world how beautiful and powerful words can be.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I actually wanted to be an Olympic athlete in high school, my times weren’t the best, but my progress was what held that dream up at the time. I was actually NCAA ready and was prepared to run for a D2 college. This dream was put to rest by an injury and my obvious discovery in a path towards music and the performing arts.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Nesquick17?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=362559b4-7aa5-4f44-832c-819099d727d2
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nesquick17/?hl=en

Image Credits
Erick Alvarado