We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Antonio Alvarado. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Antonio below.
Hi Antonio, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Growing up I definitely struggled with low self esteem. It was something that really took a lot of focus to get right and improve over time. I was a military kid growing up so moving around was common place for me to be thrown into a new place surrounded by new people. Self admittedly, I am without a doubt what you call an introvert. Being in these situations though helped force me outside my comfort zone as I began to look for comfort in being uncomfortable. Fake it until you make it was that golden advice where I recognized that confidence isn’t something everyone is born with but anyone can build it. Every move to a new state I accompanied with a new slate and chance to be more and more unapologetically myself and resulted in building my esteem step by step to where I am now.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a rapper and producer from Lansing, Kansas. At 20 years old I moved out to Kansas City in search of performing opportunities and the chance to immerse myself in a local music scene. I aim to bring quality lyrics over genre bending production to all music platforms. My musical inspirations include Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Mac Miller, Pusha T, Stormzy, and more.
From a young age my parents have gave me exposure to all genres and eras of music which created a vested interest in the art form that I carry to this day. My favorite band of all time was Linkin Park which is where my true introduction to Hip Hop came from. My freshman year in high school my family had also just moved to Hampton, Virginia where hip hop was even more prevalent and I started meeting friends who rapped in between classes and that where I began writing. From there writing turned into rapping, and rapping turned into producing, and producing turned into deciding music is what I want to do with my life.
For the future, I am dropping my first ever project in an EP called “Novela”. The name is a reference to latin telenovelas as the EP tells a overdramatized story about overcoming loss and the struggle with self love. The entire EP is self produced with an emphasis of being sonically diverse. I am super excited to tell the first story in what will become a trilogy as it will drop January 8th, 2024.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three qualities would have to be passion, consistency, and the willingness to commit to an unconventional life style. As with anything, in order to try dedicate yourself to something I have always believed you need to love doing that thing. Whether its a sport, pottery, saving lives, or cooking food, that intrinsic love helps creates that baseline of reason for why you push yourself to improve at what you do. Passion alone however is not enough, the consistency of doing things even when what you love turns into a chore is how you truly grow. Finally, if you love something enough, take the chance on yourself and do what it takes to immerse yourself in it. For me that was moving into KC at 20 so that I can meet like minded individuals and do the shows. Everyone else my age was at college or looking for the typical paths but I knew what I loved and am proud to say I took the chance. I will ALWAYS advise people around me to do the same.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
My parents put me in Martial Arts when I was 5. Growing up doing Tae Kwon Do I was blessed enough to meet multiple great influences and one of them being an old Sensei in Mr. Garcia. He gifted me a book called Living the Martial Way by Forest E. Morgan which I did not read until I was 18. The book while specified in mostly a martial arts perspective had messages very interchangeable with just about anything. The books consists of talking about honor, preparation, pushing your limits, and taking control of your mind. My favorite lesson was how to achieve mushin. Mushin is the Japanese term for being able to do something at a high level without thinking. It’s like muscle memory but more precise, and it’s all built off preparation. Recognizing that mushin is achievable gives me a goal that I am for every time I rehearse for shows. Preparation is always a priority to me and something I carry as a mindset: work hard and achieve mushin.
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