Today we’d like to introduce you to Pablo Castillo.
Pablo, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
To be completely honest I would say what got me here today is A LOT of fuck up’s and practice, but to give you a little back story I started off as a DJ in 2017 and it was in 2018 when I decided to learn how to produce. The first six months were dedicated strictly to learning my DAW (Ableton) I was fortunate enough to link up early on with a legend by the name of DRABSKI (@drab_age). He’s been around the underground music scene for many moons. DRABSKI taught me everything I know from creating hip-hop/lofi beats to creating off grid experimental beats.
I’ve always been one to go against the norm or honestly just do whatever people say not to do. I feel you can hear that a lot in my productions for sure. I would stay up for 4-5 days at a time trying to practice and learn more about my craft meanwhile trying to maintain a full-time job. Eventually I just self crippled my body/mind and I knew there had to be some sort of balance in the equation if I want to make progress I’d be proud of.
About three in half months into this journey I was blessed with the opportunity to work with two talented artists by the name of Calmplx and Christan John ( Indigenous cats ). We ended up coming together and creating our EP “Naturally Organic” that had its debut drop on Soundcloud late last year. I will be honest and say I had absolutely zero knowledge of what I was doing recording/mixing and mastering wise, but in the moment I was happy and having fun with good company and all I knew is I wanted to feel that for good. After meeting up and working with The Indigenous Cats, I had to pleasure of meeting BLAQKNOIZ artist Jack Mabie (The Thought). The Thought and I currently have about ten tracks out on all platforms with two exclusive SoundCloud drops and definitely more to come! He and I have just been head down working trying to test new styles and it’s hearing him express his versatility that motivates me to open up and be vulnerable with my productions.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s for sure been an uphill climb since the day one. Realizing that I wanted to pursue my hobby as a career was and still is a big internal battle I face. I was raised on how to survive, and now I’m in the process of teaching myself how to thrive. I feel one of my biggest and only struggles was self-doubt. I allowed outside sources to affect my attitude and mindset towards my dreams constantly. Once realizing this, I took matters into my own hands and begun surrounding myself with people who had similar visions and goals and really just seeing what worked for myself at the end of the day. It felt almost selfish working on myself but it was something I had to get over to move forward with my life.
Having my son Jordan has been more of a blessing rather than an obstacle/challenge. He’s brought more inspiration and motivation onto my journey than I can ever ask for. Everything I make even including unreleased tracks that will never come out have been ran by him for approval haha. I continue on because at the end of this I would hope he can learn/see that all it takes is just putting his mind and absolute full effort towards anything in life to achieve his goals.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I feel what sets “FLVKOBEATS” apart from others is I do not carry myself as an artist. Or at least inside I don’t. Being famous or even just being an artist has not been an interest for me at all. I simply am a 23 years old dad that likes to make beats. Sounds as boring as a cheeseburger with no cheese, but it’s how I’m able to keep a clear head through this. I often introduce myself as just Pablo when I meet other artist and there’s been a couple of occasions where people are like “You’re FLVKO BEATS!?, I follow you on Instagram” haha. It’s those encounters that make this all worth it.
I’m known for my trap/lofi beats mostly I feel there’s certain recipes and outlines to follow when it comes to making different genre’s and I recognize them but end up following whatever my ear hears. I always allow my sounds to control my sessions too and by doing so, I’ve come up with some pretty interesting tunes. The beat I produced for The Thought “Candyland” is a product of one of those sessions. At the end of the day this music journey wasn’t built off of a destination in mind, I’ve been mostly free falling making what I feel are smart investments with my beats and learning from mistakes.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Melo (Brian) introduced me to the Hip-Hop Collective BLAQNOIZ which no doubt shaped my career to what it is. I’m also working with a legend out in Lancaster, PA by the name of Raldi who also has had a big impact on my career. Our first track out “BLAH BLAH” just hit over 30k views on youtube in its first couple of weeks out.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://soundcloud.com/flvkomusic
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flvkobeats/
- Other: https://youtu.be/Eo3dmBfAiys
Image Credit:
Pato
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