We recently connected with Marcus “Ritmo” Figueroa and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Marcus , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I believe my resilience comes from the experiences of all magnitudes life has thrown at me to date. When we’re presented with any situation for the first time it’s new and at times very hard to process and accept. In my opinion, it’s really how we handle and move forward with whatever position we may be in at the moment. Everytime something comes up, the older I become, I attempt my best to understand everything I possibly can about what I may be presented with before a response (if any) is required. Skipping this step can really taint an entire day. Having a great support system of your curation, utilizing your resources and taking time to register all you can about your current position are a few things that I personally practice in my everyday life to build my resilience and continue to grow.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am an independent musician who composes and engineers my own instrumental music. My main focus is creating music that is emotionally based and enables any listener to create their own imagery escaping to their own experience. Guitar is the main culprit that allured me to dedicate myself to music over 15 years ago. Soon after I began playing bass and learned piano which quickly led me to composing and engineering my built up ideas. Since then I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve received, individuals I’ve met, but what’s most special is the immense support and sense of belief I have with me at all times. Everyone has the freedom to support whomever they please, the fact that I’m included in that is one of many things that I’m sincerely grateful for.
At this time I’m really eager for a few big projects to be released in the near future. One of which will be this 4th of July! This particular project is very special because it’s the first time I’ve ever made a cover song and went through with putting it out there. “Lovesong” by The Cure is in my opinion one of the greatest compositions of its time. Every component within the instrumental itself along with the classic and irreplaceable vocals of Robert Smith, completely enthralled me to the point where it was almost a need to respectfully create my version of a cover. This process from idea until physical completion took in total a little under 2 years. I hope they hear it!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
When it comes to myself and qualities/skills that have been the most impactful; Patience, Acceptance and Dedication would be some of the most crucial and necessary attributes for anyone in any respectable craft to practice and maintain.
Patience – Patience really covers all perspectives of a creators’ work. Pertaining to myself for example, I learned after a lot of trials and errors to be patient with your work as eager as you may be for the rest of the world to hear it. I naturally am very fast paced and have always learned as I go. I’ve finished songs and then had to go back because I had missed something that needed to be removed, edited or even turned back on. Whoops! That’s a whole process in itself that could have been avoided if I slowed down a bit.
Dedication – Nothing that you work on will grow or even be completed all together if dedication is not an everyday discipline of yourself. If you’re already truly passionate about something you’ll find yourself naturally gravitating towards whatever that may be. Dedication steps in when you may be turning down social events that you normally commit to in order to learn or practice in general. Establishing new balances between this passion with life and relationships is a necessity in order to keep as much harmony between everything you may be involved in. I compare it to growing flowers and plants. Their survival depends on your dedication in order for them to thrive into something beautiful.
Acceptance – Everyone encounters the moments of roadblocks, discouragement and undetermined time periods away from creation all together. When you’re physically going though these moments they can be extremely frustrating when you can’t produce anything although the idea may be there. I couldn’t understand no matter how much effort I’d put into whatever I may have been attempting at the time why it wasn’t working out. Accept the fact that you have this break. Ultimately I’ve come to realize that when I’m pulled away from my craft it’s really because I need to get the other priorities in my life straight and aligned. Creation is a gift. Accept everything because the reward of creation is incredibly fulfilling.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
I firmly believe it’s important to keep yourself well versed in all areas of your individual being and life. As we find our strengths and build them, it’s just as important to work on areas that may need improvement. This could be personally or passion related. Using passion as an example; if I never learned how to play other instruments or how to engineer my ideas I may not have made it far as where I am today with all of the experiences included. I used to tell myself in my early career that I was no speed player and never saw myself being capable of performing crazy solos or riffs. Though the passion couldn’t stop me, here I am today releasing hard rock/metal music and playing Pantera covers. It may seem like a challenge at first but do not sell yourself short. You’ll be surprised how much you’re always capable of accomplishing. Trust yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Ritmo5150
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamritmo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ritmo5150
