Stay Tranquilo - Inside the Mind of a Miami Freestyler: MartiMar Shares His Journey, Culture & Break Bread Series

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

In this powerful and laid-back episode of the Stay Tranquilo Podcast, we sit down with Mario Obregon aka MartiMar – a Miami-born artist who's redefining what it means to blend music, food, and culture through his Break Bread freestyle series.From learning piano as a kid to freestyling at backyard parties and building a fan-favorite content series at iconic Miami restaurants, Mario opens up about how his journey in music unfolded organically, and how keeping it simple and authentic made all the difference.🎙 We talk about:How Mario got into freestyling and developed his soundWhy Break Bread became a cultural movement in MiamiHis creative process, inspirations (Tupac, Cuban heritage, family), and lessons learnedThe importance of being authentically you as a creativeTop Miami restaurants, local legends, and how food + music bring people togetherThis one's for the dreamers, the creatives, the Miami lovers, and anyone out there just trying to make something real.👊 Hit that like, drop a comment with your favorite Break Bread moment, and don't forget to subscribe for more South Florida culture and stories.Follow Mario on IG: @martimarmia#breakbread #miamiculture #freestylerap #StayTranquiloPodcast #localartist #CubanRoots #storytelling #southfloridamusician #foodandmusic #miami #podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What goes on in your mind when putting a freestyle together? Yeah. Well, I mean, the break-bred freestyles are not really like off the top of the dome, you know? Off the top of the dome, freestyles, I'm not like the best at it. Some days are good. Some other days are horrible, you know? But for me, it's more, I feel like I'm, it's kind of crazy to think, but kind of say it. But when you don't think so much, it comes out better.

Okay. Yeah, when you're not thinking about what you're going to say, it kind of like just free. Just let it flow out. Yeah, just let it flow out and it comes a little easier. When you start thinking is when you start, they start fumbling and this and that, you know. But again, I was never a freestyler growing up, and I just started messing around with it. And now I'm more of a freestyler, even in the creation of the music, I'll freestyle stuff first, kind of find melodies, find harmony, stuff like that, and then I'll write to that or strictly just right. But the freestyle idea, the freestyle is impressive.

What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another Stay Tranquilo episode. We're here with Mario Obergon, aka Marty Marr, Miami, or M-I-A. Marty, yeah, Marty. Yeah, Marty. Yeah, I actually came across one of your videos through Vicki Veddeja. Okay. She had sent it to me, and I was like, dude, this guy's talented as hell.

I appreciate that. And represents Miami probably better than a lot of people out here. I appreciate that. And I actually came across you guys with a podcast. I think she did with her grandfather. Yes. That's how I first even came across you guys. I just thought it was cool how you were promote.

Well, she was interviewing her grandfather, which was a crazy thing and a great idea. I wish I would have done it with my grandfather before he passed. And I just thought it was cool, man, trying to keep the Cuban heritage alive and getting it out to people that don't really know about that story. You know, it was just so cool. And when you guys put that out, I was like what these guys are doing. It was cool how that unfolded because we had interviewed her in New York when she moved out to New York. We did an episode with her out there. I heard that one.

I heard that one a little bit after. And did like the whole New York to Miami to New York transition and all that. And she kind of pitched us the idea of doing that with her grandfather. And I was like, I'm not going to do the interview. You got to do that interview because it's just. Yeah, that's too personal. Exactly. Yeah.

And her grandfather's a legend. Part of the beginning of the Miami Herald and all that. Yeah, that's crazy. So she's an icon in Miami. Her grandfather's an icon in Miami. And I think really what this is, It was like, I want to highlight more of these Miami icons. For sure. For sure.

Because there's a ton of talent out here. And we're here at Vic Garcia's spot. And, you know, he's another big Miami guy. Yeah, he's doing live art right now. He's doing art right back here. He's got the candle lit up. Yeah, that's legit. But, yeah, there's a ton of talent out here.

And I don't think a lot of it is represented in the right way. 100%. You know, so being able to have a platform to be able to do that, I think is great. And, you know, you go to past times. I mean, there's a ton of history out here, too, a Miami State. He's got a sick little page in touch the history of Miami as well. So just being able to kind of put that full circle together, I think, is sick. But I want to get into your story, right?

And I want to, I guess, start off with how you got into the music space. Where did that all come from? Well, I mean, ever since I was young, I was really into music. My dad was really into music. He played a lot of instruments. And I played piano when I was growing up. That was one of the things that they put me in, you know, as a kid. You don't really know what you're doing.

You know, your parents kind of guide you in this way and that way. And one thing that is, they put me in music in piano lessons, which was cool. And I did that for a few years, very, like, simple classical music. And I would do shows and performances and stuff like that. But it was nothing really ever that serious. Then I got into high school, into middle school, and I was like, I don't want to do piano anymore. I just want to, like, play basketball, hang out with my friends and chase girls. You know what that is.

And it was like music. I still love music, though. Music was always, like, a huge part of my life. And I was always good with lyrics of songs. I don't know why. Growing up, I was into hip hop, obviously. That was big, and I was just into the lyrics. And I would memorize lyrics very easily. It was always the things. And then so high school, same thing. Basketball, girls, the whole nine. And then in college, a friend of mine, Christian Martinez, Tish, who had gone to middle school with, we weren't really friends back then. We knew each other. We were acquaintances, but we weren't really that close. We ended up getting close in college.

And he's going to school for audio engineering. And we go out one night to the Grove. take them home and on the way home, we just start freestyling. I don't know why or what happened. We just started freestyling one day. And he's like, yo, you're not that bad. I had never freestyle before in my life really liked that. Again, I was good with lyrics, but writing and freestyle. Yeah.

He's like, oh, you're not that bad. I've been making beats for school. You know, I have to make beats for school. I have all the equipment here. Why don't we just mess around and just like start recording? I'm like, all right, cool. I had no idea what it was about, what entailed nothing. And man, ever since that day,

we started recording. We'd take all the equipment to friends' houses. Like we'd go out on the weekends or even before, like just Saturday, drinking at a friend's house. We'd have the equipment there. Like, I put a beat on. And we just started messing around. And that's pretty much how we started making songs.

We made like three or four. And then we kind of talked about it. And we wanted to take it a little bit more serious. We're like, all right, let's do this. You know, again, I didn't know that he kind of was leading the way. And then he's like, okay, if we're going to do this, I don't want to do it just me and you rapping over beats. we're going to do this. I want to do with like a band. Again, I had no idea. I wasn't really into

the to the music scene in Miami at all. I'm like, all right, cool. He knew somebody. He knew our boy Greg who had a brother Nick who played drums for a few bands. We're like, oh, cool, call Nick. He's like, yeah, I'm down to jam with you guys. That's how it started. Our first performance was me, Tish, Nick on the drums, and we had a DJ, Ricky Ethics at the time. He was DJ, and that's like our first show at Bayside Hut. Oh, wow. We did four songs. And man, ever since I, when I got on stage, I had been, again, I had been on stage before with the piano, but man, it's just like me and what I'm just playing. This was different. This was commanding the stage and people and rapping and going back and forth. I never, we didn't take any

lessons on this, you know, it was like, yeah, it was crazy. Just like, those four, four songs, man, when I say like all our homies came out and supported, like, it was a crazy show. And just after that day, I was like, oh, this is, I'm always hooked. And I was old. I was like, 26, 27 at the time, you know? So I started, I started late in the game, you know? But ever since that day, it was just, and I haven't stopped doing it since. That's insane. It's crazy how when you, you're just like, it almost feels like it happens by accident, right? To your point, you're like, didn't go to school for it. You know, it wasn't really like studying it. Just kind of one day started freestyling. I was like, hey, this is pretty cool. And then it just, it's crazy how things evolve over time. Yeah, even right,

even the writing process of writing a song, I didn't know anything. I didn't know structure. I didn't know this, I didn't know that. I had written some short stories as a kid, just like messing around, but I was never a writer. I wouldn't say like I wrote growing up, you know? But again, I think being good with the lyrics of songs, I listened to a lot of music. Music was like my thing. So I did listen to a lot of music and I think just that helped later on in life with me writing and figuring out hooks and choruses and song structures and this and memorization of all my songs, even when I'm performing, it's, you know, you got to memorize it, but shit. That's got to be Yeah, you know, but I was always good at it.

It wasn't a thing that really took me a lot of effort to do. Right. Ever since I was little. So it helped transition into making songs. And, I mean, I was horrible in the beginning. It was cool. You know what I mean? We were doing it.

We were kind of the only ones out of our friends doing it. So it was like a cool thing for all of, you know, but listening back now, I'm just like, Jesus Christ. Yeah. That's like me when I listen to like some of the first podcast that ever did. Of course, but that's how it is. But it's evolution, yeah. Yeah.

So who would you say is like, some of the biggest inspiration when it comes to your music that I guess you've picked off of over the years. I mean, growing up, my favorite artist of all time is Tupac, but I don't know why. It was just something I gravitated to as a kid, like that sound and his, what he was talking about. And even as a young kid, you don't really know exactly what they're talking about at the time. But as you grow older, I realize like, oh, shit, you know, this guy was like a revolutionary

for his people, you know, for what he was going through, what his family was going through. and I feel like that transition to me later on I did write a lot of songs for Cuba my parents were Cuban growing up my whole my whole background so even that him him being a revolutionary for his people transitioned to me just like me listening to it

and listening to it so much that it that in turn it just made me want to just like not rap about the bullshit that goes on in life but like really have a story and really really paint pictures and and try to to tell people the story that they don't know about us,

like we talked about with Vicki and her grandfather. Right. You know, so yeah, he was very influential. My cousins growing up would show me a lot of music. So, man, it was a lot of hip hop. Like, that was what I loved. And I mean, being in Miami, there was a lot of hip hop even going on, even in the scene.

My dad would show me all types of music. So from, I mean, the Eagles, like that was big in our households. From the Carpenters, if you guys know who they are, yeah, that was like a, I remember. I remember specifically Christmas, a lot of the carpenters being played in my house. Man, there was just a lot of music at family events. My dad would bring out the guitar. People would sing.

It was just like very musical. I grew up in a very musical household and a very musical culture, you know? So just I think that helped again later on in life when I started creating and making music, you know? Yeah, no, definitely. It's that, you know, it's that upbringing. Yeah. It's like it's in your DNA. Yeah, yeah.

And then you kind of start connecting the dots. is like, well, I'm pretty good at writing. Oh, hey, I can actually kind of freestyle. And then it all kind of just starts coming together. And you probably have that in your ear just from being so young listening to music. For sure. You brought up your parents, right? Yeah.

We're born in Cuba? Yes. So they're born in Cuba and you have this break bread series, right? Yes. I've noticed that a lot of it has to do with like Miami iconic spots. Yeah. What kind of triggered your inspiration and, I guess, creativity and saying, like why not go to some of these, you know,

yeah, yeah, yeah. Staples in Miami, but turn it into some sort of music component around there. So, yeah, so I had always been writing a lot. Again, I had the band. We had a band for a long time. At first we started off as Dream Team, then we ended up changing that.

Dream Team was like a, we just set it playing around, not thinking it would turn into anything. And when we ended up making more music and creating album and stuff, we ended up changing it to Problem Kids. So Problem Kids was a band that I was in for a long time, and that's kind of like my upbringing in Miami music

and in live music. Those guys taught me all those musicians that I played with taught me everything. I know about live performances and live music. So when we started performing, I would always write. I would always write a lot, and we wouldn't use some of the stuff for the albums, for the probably kids' albums.

There's just me writing and freestyle. I hear songs that I like and I like the beat and I'll just write something to that if I get inspired. So I had a bunch of freestyles and had stuff that I'd never use. Like, damn, I want to use this one day. I want to use this. Fast forward. My friend Mike Russ, who shoots a lot of my videos, he's like, yo, I hadn't seen him in a couple years.

He's like, yo, I want to get together. Let's go have dinner and just talk. I want to, like, start shooting some videos and stuff. I'm back, like, creatively. I'm like, all, cool. So we go to dinner. We start talking. I say, yeah, I want to shoot videos.

I'm like, all, cool. I got some songs. And I'm like, yo, I have an idea. He's like, why don't we go to, like, have connections at certain restaurants that I know, that I go to a lot, that I know people there? Why don't we see if we connect with these restaurants and do like a freestyle series? I have a bunch of freestyles that I've ridden. Why don't we just go? I'll talk to him, see what we can do.

We'll like film some food. He's like, I think that's a good idea. I'm like, all right, cool. Let's, you know, let's see what happens. I called a couple people. The first one we did it at was tropical Chinese. Oh, damn. Yeah, so I had gone there along since I was little with a friend of my Mike.

He kind of introduced me to that spot. So we knew everybody there. They knew the owner. So me going with them. I knew the owner. So I called him. I'm like, hey, look, I want to shoot a music video there, kind of like highlighting the restaurant.

He's like, whatever you need, you're here. I'm like, all right, cool. Easier than you thought. Easier than I thought. So I'm like, okay, I call my fam. Some of the friends that we used to go to Tropical with a lot, I'm like, hey, we're going to do a little dinner. All right, cool.

I didn't know. I was like, damn, I don't know what the hell we're going to do there. Right. We get there. Everything's set up, super easy. The filming is nothing crazy. You know, we film a few times. We film a few shots of me doing the song,

and then they filmed B-roll of the food, the restaurant and stuff. I'm like, oh, it's all right, it's pretty easy. So then we call my boy Mike that owns Aurette, Hospitality Group, so Ariette, Trugs, all that. We call it. The second one we did was Ariette. We had a dinner downstairs. And man, I just started calling restaurants that I knew.

And everybody was like 100%. And then when I started dropping the videos, like, to this day, like, when people see me, they're like, yo, the break breads is just like. It's sick. It connected with people in a way that I never thought. I thought it would be cool, you know what I mean? But I never thought it would connect with people the way it did.

And it's just I repost videos now of breakbreads that I did two years ago, which I hate repostings. But it's crazy when I repost something that I dropped two years ago and somebody tells me like, yo, I've never seen this. It's the craziest shit, you know? I'm always posting and I feel like everybody sees it. Right. But you know, that's not how it is. That's not how it is.

That's not how it is. Some people just don't see it because Instagram blocks it or because they're not on their phone or what. that. So it's always good as artists, if you're out there listening. Don't be afraid to repost your things because I was reposting some breakbreads recently. And my friend's like, yo, I never even, I never heard this sign. And I'm like, really? I dropped this like two years ago. But man, the breakbreads have just been, again, something that connected people with the city, connected people with food. Everybody loves food. And that's where people go to, you go for a birthday party, you're going to go eat somewhere. You go for a family event. You're going to eat somewhere.

Everything has to do with eating and eating together with family, with family, with friends. So I try to make it a thing where friends and family come out and we have dinner and normal dinner. Yeah. And I try to tell them, look, pretend I'm not even here when we're filming. So it kind of looks like nobody, like, you know? Yeah.

And man, it's been amazing too. And it's been fun to do just to get out. Again, I can put out music that I didn't think was that I just had there. You know, just to like create, just keep creating. And I can put it out to the world so they can have it if whatever, they like it and that, whatever. But at least I put it out. And I feel like me putting out music just helps me create more later on in the

process, you know. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think two things, right? The whole reposting thing, I mean, you're, you're garnering new followers all the time. That too. That too. That's true. So, you know, they might have discovered you through our latest post that you posted.

Exactly. They didn't see the stuff that you did, you know, six months ago or whatever. And that might have been some of your best stuff. Exactly. Exactly. You know, timing's also weird sometimes with things. Like a lot of times, like, we'll put our content. I'm like, bro, like, I know this is a good piece of content.

Yeah. But, you know, we're not at that time where we're maybe able to reach everyone that we want to reach. But it's like, if I repost it, now that might be relevant to someone that it wasn't relevant to them. And they might have seen it too. Exactly. But they kind of like blew by. Yeah.

At that moment in their time, it didn't hit them as it would a year later. You know, everybody changes. Things change. People change. Their circumstances change. So, yeah, I've learned that. I've learned that to just, you know, like repost, especially artists and people that are doing stuff like us, creatives. Like, you know, you got to repost.

And Vig does it. I mean, Vig posts 150 times a day. I see this guy more than I see my family. You know what I mean? But it's a... But it works. But it works. Everyone in Miami knows Vic at this point.

Of course. If I mentioned Vic's name, they're like, oh, of course, Rory is the artist. Yeah. And it's free. It's free marketing and it's your stuff. And if you're not marketing your stuff, then... Exactly. Yeah.

You're definitely doing something wrong. Yeah. It's a... And I guess I'll go back to it because I do want to get into it a little bit, but kind of pinging off this conversation. What are, like, because I, you know, I'm, you know, I'm struggling. There's like this whole stigma around social media and all that. For sure.

And people always have comments to say and there's always haters and that, you know, all that stuff. Right. But what's kind of your thoughts on like being active on social media and like really putting yourself out there? I mean, my social media now, before, I used to put a lot more stuff of like my life and what I was doing. Now it's, it's, I mean, here and there I'll put stuff of what I'm doing on the weekend and stuff like that. but it's not really that. It's really more for the music. Right.

That's what it's basically about. If you're trying to figure out what I'm doing in my everyday life, like Instagram's not the way to go. Exactly. Instagram is my music stuff. If I'm on vacation with the fam, I'll post. If I'm drunk one night, maybe I'll post something else. You know what I mean?

But other than that, like, for me, it's strictly a tool to get my music out there. You know what I mean? Like, I'm a very, like, private person in a sense. I mean, I'm on Instagram because I'm an artist. and it have to be. Yeah, you're a public figure in the eyes of social media, but you as a person. Exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not posting what I'm doing every day. I'm not that. But I feel like, I mean, you use it to your advantage. I mean, again, it's free. People are following you for a reason. If they didn't want to see what you were doing, they wouldn't follow you.

Yeah, you know? Exactly. But again, in my personal life, I'm kind of private. Again, sometimes I will expand a little bit, but I keep it very to the music and to the music videos and stuff like that. No, I feel that. I'm the same way. If I wasn't doing this, I probably wouldn't even have social media.

Exactly. But I understand the power behind it. 100%. You're not able to grow anything if you're not on social media at the end of the day. Especially nowadays. Yeah. So you brought up, though, that whole food and music kind of combination, right? I think something that's interesting, too, is like Miami, but even bigger than Miami,

just like Hispanic culture in general. It's all about music and food. For sure. Sports are also in there, too. Yeah, yeah. It's food. We love our food and we love our music. So being able to, I guess, make that connection, I don't know anyone that's done something like that,

especially like in our demographic, in our crop. For sure. You got your food bloggers and all that and that's food, right? And then you got guys that are artists and they do their music and all that. But it's you're bridging two concepts or ideas that people like and you turn them into one platform. Yeah. it was something simple. Again, I went to go eat with my boy, and that's how we came up. You know, like I thought, I hadn't thought of it, but we went to go eat together, and that's

how we came up with the idea to do it. And it was just like something, it's very simple. It's something that we do every day. Like, it doesn't take rocket science sometimes, you know, sometimes we think too much on something, you know, I'm, I do it myself, you know, with writing and like, oh, should I put this out? Should I do this? Like, we think too much into it. And sometimes it's just easier to just like, you know, the simplest thing, We used to say that in the band a lot. Keep it simple and just keep everything simple and just do whatever, put it out. Even if one person likes and nobody, don't worry about the views, don't worry about this

and that, like, y'all, don't worry about any of that. As long as you're putting stuff out and putting stuff out into the world, it was, it was, it was crazy to me to see the reaction I got from people when I would go out and people like, yeah, what's up? Like, it was like, yo, what's up, how you doing? Good. It's like, yo, the break bread. It was crazy.

Yeah. Still to this day, but obviously the break bread, yeah, it's become a thing. So in the beginning it was more, you know, something fresh. Now it's like, okay, this guy does this is a break bread guy. Exactly, this is your thing. Yeah, exactly. So it's not, but still people to this day like, yo, the video at this, the video at that, the video of shadow, it's like, yo, it's nonstop.

Because again, food. Yeah. Food and music. It doesn't get any better than that. A Hispanic thing that I just flipped it on in my own thing. And now people are like, now it's going to be a thing I feel like here forever. And I've been lucky again. to partner with some cool restaurants.

Like our drummer Nick is married to Desi, part of the Valles family who owns Versailles, like that. So that's how we were able to do Versailles, stuff like that. So like just the connections in the city, I mean, I was born and raised. I've lived here. I went to college here.

So just knowing a lot of people, it just helped me, yo, can we do it? Whatever you want. Yo, whatever you want. And then when people saw the product, they saw it wasn't just like coming in and filming some, you know, some BS thing.

They were like, oh, this looks nice. It's professional. You know, it's clean. They're like, oh, 100%. Oh, I imagine, as you continue to do this, too. It's great publicity for these restaurants, too. It's a bunch of eyeballs that they weren't getting. They're like, oh, shit, I saw the Break Red series.

They're at this place for site. I got to go check it out. And you're making food look cool. Yeah, yeah. And it's crazy. I'll post something. I've posted like tropical Chinese a couple times, and people have been like, oh, I got to go.

I'm going tonight. You have a craving, you know? Exactly. Everywhere I went, I've known somebody. The only place was Rio Crital that I did one recently. I didn't know anybody there, so I kind of like walked in, and the guy really didn't have no idea what I was even talking about. I was like, get what I said?

I'm like, look, I'm going to come in here and film something. They were like remodeling. He's like, give me a month. I'm like, all right, cool. I called him out of their money. He's like, look at Duquera, whatever. Bang. And, bro, he set us up.

My family, like 40 people at a big table. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was dope. And again, that's really the only place I really didn't, didn't know anybody there to like get my foot in. Yeah. Yeah. So I understand the concept of Break Bread,

but where did you get the name from? Like, where was that? A friend of mine, I asked one of my friends, I'm like, yo, what do you think of? I need a name for like this freestyle series. And he sent me like a few. And that was one of them, break bread. I'm like, oh, that's dope. And then I sent it.

Yeah, it is. And then I sent it to my boy, Jason, who does all my artwork. He's a designer for dime life and a bunch of other companies. And then he made the logo, which I think is pretty cool. I mean, if you see the logo on the videos, it's like, it says break bread, but there's like, it's like a broken bread loaf. I did notice that. Pretty dope. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, so as a friend. I mean, I ask a lot of my friends for ideas and shit like that, you know, because I can only think and write so much stuff. You're just like, you know, sometimes it's good to like bounce ideas off your boys and your homie. You're like, yo, what do you think? What should I name it? And that's how I got it.

My boy, Skila, shout out. We talk about it all the time. I mean, you're more powerful with the more people you have around you that are, like-minded and just can spit ideas off of, right? Because I'm the same way. My mind's running a million miles all the time, thinking about ideas, like, you oh, let's try this, let's try this. But it's good to be able to bounce off these ideas and these thoughts for sure with other people

because shit, it could be a terrible idea. And I learned that being in a band. A band was six of us and it's six opinions, six everything. You know, it's like dealing with being in a relationship with five other people. And it was the band is no joke. But again, bouncing ideas off. Yo, what do you think of this? All right, yeah, I like this.

But let's go. All right, cool. Yeah. You know, it's. And being in a band growing up in the music and I didn't really know about live music. It helped being in that environment, you know? Yeah, yeah. The concept of freestyling to me has always been extremely interesting.

Yeah. I remember, me and my boys probably tried to, like, you put a beat on and be like, yo, let's try to freestyle. None of us could get anything out there. It would be so bad. But I'm curious, like, what goes on in your mind when putting a freestyle together? Yeah. Well, I mean, the break bread freestyles are not really like off the top of the dome, you know?

Off the top of the dome, freestyles, I'm not like the best at it. Some days are good. Some other days are horrible, you know? But for me, it's more, I feel like I'm, it's kind of crazy to think, but kind of say it, but when you don't think so much, it comes out better. Okay. Yeah, when you're not thinking about what you're going to say, it kind of like just free- Just let it flow out.

Yeah, just let it flow out and it comes a little easier. When you start thinking is when you start, they start fumbling and this and that, you know. But again, I was never a freestiler growing up. and I just started messing around with it. And now I'm more of a freestiler, even in the creation of the music. I'll freestyle stuff first, kind of find melodies, find harmony, stuff like that,

and then I'll write to that or strictly just write. But the freestyle idea, the freestyle is impressive. Like I see some people on Instagram and YouTube, I'm big on YouTube just like searching for music, searching for beats, searching for inspiration, you know, and I just see people freestyling and I'm like, God, damn, how do they even think of words to say like that? I know.

It's wild. I mean, you look at like a guy like Lil Wayne and what, like lyrical genius. I mean, he's not freestyling per se. It definitely does, but just the way his mind works to be able to come up with some these lyrics in here like J. Cole also is another one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mentress. I mean, all these guys, they just, you could just tell they just think differently.

They're wired. Yeah, but Little Wayne even, he would build it freestyling, you know? Right. It's like, all right, true. By piece by piece, you know, which is not, which is not, which. which is something I kind of did on the last project I had, which was Lucas for Losers. Some of those songs, I kind of said, fuck it.

And I was like, I'm not even going to think like I usually do, like, sit down, make it too, you know, lyrical in a sense. But I still made it lyrical, but without the thinking process, it was more like, all right, let's just some of those songs I knocked off like in 30 minutes. You know, I was just like writing. I was writing and I caught a groove. I caught a groove for like two weeks, wrote like six songs, and I had two other ones, and I kind of put that project together.

But again, that one was more in a freestyle type spirit. Yeah. Little less than my first album or some of my other projects, you know. It was just like it was cool to do it like that. You know, it wasn't something that I was used to. And do you have a producer that does all your beats and all that? I have some producers. I find a lot of beats online.

Okay. And I'll reach out to people. People reach out to me on Instagram. Like, yo, I have some beats. Some on the last project. Some guys sent me some through Instagram, reach out. Like, yo, I have some beats. I'm going to send you a little pack.

They'll send me like a three or four. pack of beats. I'm like, oh, I like this one. Some guys I just reach out to. I'll find randomly, like my YouTube algorithm, I guess from searching for so many instrumentals and shit, stuff just pops up. So you'll find something and be like, oh shit, this is a sick? Yeah, like for my first solo project that I put out, Whispers from Amuse that I brought you guys the vinyl, I found, I was, I was writing to a break bread, and the instrumental was on YouTube, and then it finished, And it went to another song. It just shuffled.

And the next song that it shuffled to was this instrumental beat. And I was like, oh, shit, what is this? I looked. I'm like, damn, I looked up the guy, ended up buying that beat from him, and I bought like nine other ones. That beat was a beat for a song called Jekuzi Moon. Okay.

Off the first album. That was that song, and I ended up on that album, that specific producer has like nine beats, I have like nine beats from him on that album. Oh, shit. Yeah. You kind of find what you like. Exactly.

You know, I found a song. sound I guess that I liked and at that time you know because this this last project that I put out that guy didn't have I don't think I had any of his beats on there you know it's just like the mood I was in I guess at the time you know you know it's just yeah yeah it's a different it's a different but um but yeah I'll find Paul Paul's uh I have some beats from Paul like Sangria Blanca my my the guy that I record with Paul um he made that beat some of the beats on the were for some of the guys from the from the band my boy Tish had a beat on there um another one of my my boys that I used to play basketball with at the U Center, Free Wave.

He has a beat on Whisper from Muse 2. So, like, it's a combination. But again, that album has nine from the same person. So it makes it a cohesive sound in a way, you know, being from the same kind of sound, the same guy. Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. Yeah. And you brought up, I guess, your moods, right?

Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about how mood plays into your music. Yeah, big time, big time. When you say moods, there's it like, Good mood versus bad mood or is it? All moods. Everything. Yeah, all moods.

All mood. I could be in a great mood and you'll hear it in the song. You'll hear the tones. You'll hear what I'm saying. You'll hear the subject I'm speaking about if I'm in a bad mood or not even in a bad mood. Just like angry at something that happened. I'm not even specifically writing about that thing that happened to me that made me feel like that. But it just puts me in a certain space.

They're like different characters in a sense, you know? There are different characters and I'm, my name, my Mario, Marty is like an artist. I'm like, that's like a different guy, you know? And in that guy, there's little branches of other guys that I can come out at any point. I don't know. I'm going home. I'm riding home. I wrote one song, got home drunk and I was inspired.

Yeah, you know, or like sitting on the beach and just like chilling and just like reminiscing. I wrote one song, you know. Like it depends. It depends. when I'm inspired, when, because inspiration comes and goes. And when it comes, as you guys know, you've got to like capitalize at that moment. Like sometimes I'll be in bed. You know, I mean like a long day.

I'm like, fuck, you know, like I just want to like chill and not do nothing. I've had a long day at work, had a long day at this. Yeah. I get home and then I turn on the TV and it's, and I'll be watching something that inspires me to to not be in bed and be like, yo, you're wasting time. Like get on the piano and just mess around or like write. I'm sure some of the best stuff come out of those moments. 100%.

100%. You know those moments when you don't want it, you're like, all right, let me sit down and really try to write something. You know? But then you also have to know when to sit back and live a little bit and live life and understand that that wasn't a time for that song or for that where you were trying to write. You're trying to force it. Forcing it, again, is not the way to go.

Keep it simple. Keep it simple, you know. So like it's always good to, and especially in music, there's only so much. you can write about if you're not going out there experiencing certain things like there's a lot of nights where I don't go out and people are going out and I'm like yo I want to I'm staying home and you know I got to work I got to do this I want to wake up early I want to right exercise but I sometimes man it's just like you know take that take that beer take that dinner with a friend you know like yeah we want to stay home and this and that but it's always good to get out there you never know what you're

what you're going to experience and then later on maybe I write something about that you know so it's just it's capitalizing on inspiration man is is a big deal for me and and again also knowing when to all right don't force it you're forcing it too much because when you force it people hear it they hear it in the music they hear it they see it and what you're doing it doesn't come off authentic exactly you know yeah um the so i want to go back to the breakbread right so what what does the next i guess phase of that world look like man that the breakbreads is such a a simple concept for me and a simple thing to do, I kind of like keeping it there. I would like to go to other cities maybe. Other people have told me, like come to New York. Yeah, that's kind of the,

in my head, how I could see it. Yeah, yeah, no, me too, me too. I just need to write more songs too. You know what I mean? Yeah, true. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot. But I mean, I do have, I do have songs that I can do already. Yeah. But yeah, I would like to take it to another city whenever I travel, you know, I would like to travel places now and kind of get some work done as well. not work, but get something creative out of my trips, not just go to. Yeah, the inspiration. You know, you go to these new places and you say, oh shit, like this just hit me. Exactly. This is it. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, I would like to take it as far as I can. And I don't see myself not doing music ever in my life. Obviously, I know at some point it's going

to have to stop. Right. And I'm going to have to like, I don't know, settle down to do whatever you do when you settle down. Right. But I would like to just keep doing the break bread as long as possible and keep doing as much of the music and content as I can really. I love doing it. And again, it's not something hard. You see the videos and they're very, again, they're very, they're clean and they look super professional because people I work with are super professional. The restaurants we work with are super professional. But it's a very simple process. I'm not going there and stressing and like, oh my God, are we going to get this take? It's literally, I'm doing some takes. I'm having dinner with my boys. And what comes out of it comes out of it.

And it's, it's, it's crazy. Not because you look at it and it looks, it looks awesome. Clean, super clean. Quality's there, but just, it there's, you could tell there's like intention behind it. 100%. You know, it's not, again, not to say that, you know, you're simplifying it. No. But it's, it's to the point that it's a perfect blend of you being so authentic that it is so simple.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah, I think it's come off like that. I think it's been great. Again, you've asked a lot about it. And again, people come up. And that's like the main thing they talk about, you know. It's like the break bread because of food. The food and the music, it just brings people together in all aspects of life.

You can be, I don't know, a young kid or an old person and you see it and you're like, wow. Like my parents' friends. So obviously on Instagram, now it goes to like post on Facebook. I haven't been on Facebook in years. Yeah, they do. And now it kind of goes on post-office. It goes everywhere. And like, I'll have my parents' friends reach out like, oh, yeah, I'm invited.

I'm just like, I didn't know you were even, you know. you're aware of what I was doing you know but it is and they see it they're like wow and they don't even know they don't even like rap like that but it's not it's not even like that type of rap it's just like a and they just see the family and they see my friends and they're like damn that's just

it's just what they do so they see it in me and they're like oh they like that what would you say I guess to the people listening you know outside of that like who are you and what else would you want people to know about you outside of the break bread man I'm a I'm a simple person I

I hang out with my family a lot, my friends a lot. But I chill. I'm already in that stage of life where I grew up in Miami. I went out. I did all that. Like, I'm over that scene. Literally, I'm over that scene. I don't want to.

Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot growing up here and being in here and being here throughout my college and older, you know, adult life. But man, I chill. I'm simple. I work in insurance during the day. My family has an insurance agency. I've been doing that for 20-something years.

Yeah, I've been doing that since I was in high school. I mean, I worked there in, like, in the summers, BSing. And then after college, I kind of got serious with that. So I've been in that industry for a long time. And, man, I chill with my fam really more than I probably should. That's awesome. But, yeah, later on in life, I won't be the type. We'll be like, oh, damn, I wish I would have hung out with my parents more,

and my brother and sister more. Like, I hang out with them way too much. Yeah. But I love hanging out with them. That's like the Cuban in us, too. Yeah, exactly. All we want to do is hang with the family. Those are the good times.

100%. I remember my grandmother when she was around like that. She, I think, really instilled that in us. Exactly. It was like, yeah, we're not going anywhere. We're going to hang here. And then if you want to go do something later, you can go do something later. But there's family time here.

And then what would happen was it would be such a good time there. You end up saying. The boys would come over and then we're all there hanging out, having beers, just chilling, playing dominoes. And we're like, bro, why are we going to leave? Like, we're just having a good time here. If anything, we'd just tell the people to come here. Exactly. That's what I do now.

We hang out, we chill, play dominoes. We're doing the same thing we were doing back then. You mentioned the grandparents. My grandfather is a big reason of my music because every Saturday morning he would pick us up, pick up me and my cousin. So when we were young, we started at, I don't know, six, seven years old.

Every Saturday he'd pick us up in the morning. At that age, we'd go to breakfast, and then he'd take us to a toy store. Toys R Us at the time was like the main toy store. we were going to. He'd take us towards the Russ. We'd be in there for an hour and a half. He'd like let us roam. You'd tell us one. You get to pick one thing to tape. All right, cool. Me and my cousin messing around and then obviously we'd want like eight things. So it'd be like, my cousin would send me. He'd be like, all right, look, you go to him, talk to him,

be like, see if we can get a couple more. That'd go, I'd be like, all right, two things. And that's how it started. After that, we got older and then we started going to sports authority. We know we're getting into sports. But specs was like our main thing. So we'd go to specs with our grandfather. He didn't know. He didn't know about parental. advisory and all that. Right. You know, so he'd go, I don't know if you want to wait for that. We'd go to specs and same thing.

He'd sit down or he'd listen to his music, but he listened to the music, but then he'd end up sitting down because we'd be in there for so long. Me and my cousin would search what we wanted. My cousin was a little older than me, so he kind of knew the music, kind of like guide me in that sense. And some of the CDs had parental advisory, so if you weren't old enough, you couldn't, you couldn't buy them. So we would get the sticker that had

the price on it, cover the parental advisory, you know what I mean? Yeah. And give it to my grandfather. Be like, oh, this is the one we want. Oh, that's the one you want? Okay, my grandfather would go. The people would scan it, CDs, tapes, and bro, we just spent hours. I would just spend hours in my room. Back then, there wasn't Spotify, there wasn't an iPod. So when you bought an album back then, you sat with that album for weeks at a time. So that's what I say about like, like, Trupac. My, I remember vividly like taking all eyes on me, that album and just take it everywhere with me on my on my on my on my disman and and and falling asleep to it and just

playing it over and over again like i know that that cd from like the back of my hand it's crazy but again back then put the cd in let it play hours hours hours i wasn't i didn't have a playlist of 6 000 different songs you know what i mean so the even the music consuming the music back then was a little different but again my grandfather was the one that he'd go buy us he wasn't he didn't even know it he was buying us at the time and that's how i started collecting music and collecting my CDs and all that. That's incredible. Yeah. It's crazy when you look back, right? Because in those moments, you're like, I just like music. Exactly. And now, I mean, you look at your, you know, your younger self now and be like, shit, it kind of all makes sense. That propelled me to creating today.

And like, I don't know, it's just, it's crazy to think about really. I always, I always look back at like myself. I was like, bro, I wasn't a, I wasn't a creative, like, at all. It was so much so that art class was like a disaster for me, music class was a disaster for me. Anything in like the arts, I guess you could say, was not my shtick. People said I was on a writer. I didn't like to read. I like to read now. Yeah. But it's like, I always look back and I'm like, where was this kid? Me? You know, because it didn't, it didn't really exist. I played sports my whole life. Yeah, me too. Sports was all I kind of knew. And kind of going back to that point that you made in the beginning, it's like your parents obviously make a lot of your decisions.

You know, I'm grateful for the decisions that they've made in my life. But nothing, I would say really, you know I was entrepreneurial I always was like I was selling rocks so my neighbors like in the in the front yard and we had these river rocks which are just like probably like regular little circle rocks but a couple of them would have like these little gold flakes on that they're not worth shit but they would have these gold flakes and in my head and I'm like bro these are worth a ton so I would get all the ugly ones

and then put that gold one there and be like all right the ugly ones are a dollar but this gold one it was five bucks yeah and I would sell it to my neighbors My neighbors were driving by and they were buying the rocks for me. So when I look back, that's the one thing I would say. I was, I was entrepreneurial. Yeah. I always just like, I don't, for whatever reason, like, that was a shit that I like to do. I would get in the front of my house and go sell shit.

And like, that's crazy. That's how I like to spend my time outside of like playing sports. 100%. Yeah, me too. I didn't, I wish I would have taken music in Columbus. Exactly. Like, I had no idea. I was just, I wasn't in that mindset.

I don't know. I don't know. I wish I would, looking back now, like, Cooper and all these guys. And I went recently and I saw the music studio they have now. We didn't have that back then. But like even having that available to you in high school, like these kids, they're lucky to do it.

And again, I wish I would have, I don't know, learned more about music, even taking a music class in college just to learn about theory or learn about certain musicians. I just wish I would have, you know, it didn't hit me till, again, 26, 27. But, you know, who knows? Like you take those classes and maybe it turns you off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're like, you're in a lecture, you know, whatever it is, and you're like, eh, it's not for me. Yeah, it's not for me. Yeah. The past found you no matter what. Exactly. No matter what you did. I think it was.

Music was always a huge part of my life, so I don't, I think it would have found me. I didn't think it would turn me into this, you know what I mean? And this is just, I'm not saying I'm anything. I'm just doing something that most people, most people like, most people are like, damn. I don't know if I could do that. Yeah. I think that's another thing. Like, most people are like, damn.

I can't believe this guy's still doing it. Some people are like, yo, you're still, I'm like, yeah, I'm still doing it. Fuck, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm old. I don't go, fuck. I'm still doing this. I'm doing it and I'm loving it. Yeah, and I don't think, for now, I don't think it will ever stop and it's just, I mean,

creativity is just, it's like that, I guess. It is. It drives me every day. Yeah, me too. Just think, just thinking all the time. That's, that can be. It's a good thing in a bad thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It gives me a lot more good than I think bad at the end of the day. So it only messes with me when I'm trying to go to sleep and I'm thinking about shit. I'm like, Jesus Christ. I think I take more magnesium. Zinc magnesium. Yeah, yeah, all that. All that shit. So you grew up in Miami your whole life.

Yeah. I guess what's been for you the best part of being a guy from Miami? Just the culture, man. The culture, even with our, like, obviously we spoke about the family. I'm very family-oriented, like I said, and just growing up around my whole family. I could have left for college and I thought about it a few times. but all my best friends were here and even my best friends' families

turned into my families and just like how some houses here like my aunt's house always had the door open it was never locked you could walk in there and it should be whatever was happening whatever anybody was there oh who's here no nobody everybody's gone all right cool with that I'll see you guys later

it was just like the the family aspect of Miami and even like the friends that I that I grew up with are still my friends to this day from middle school, from elementary, from high school, like my best are still my best friends, like our crew. Like I saw Vic when Vic was a little kid and I don't even know how old he was like running around the house. Real talk. And like now he's a grown ass man doing art and like, it's just crazy to see everybody still together, still connected, still helping each other out.

Like it's never, you know, Miami can get very clicky at times. And it is very clicky. But still, Everybody has mad love for each other. And it's just, I don't know, even growing up here, it was just, it was super cool, that aspect of it, I feel like. Yeah, no, I agree. All my boys to this day are the, you know, since like kindergarten. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. And it's like, I don't, they're brothers at this point. Exactly.

And I think that's just something that we have in us, like, whatever your differences are that you might have with your boys, you know, throughout life, you still find the way to be like, bro. Yeah. Come on. Like, let's put the shit inside. shapes, colors, sizes. I grew up with poor, rich. And it never mattered to me. That was never like a thing. Like you see it in the news. You watch, I don't watch the news, but you see it and you see it on Instagram and Twitter and this and that. And like they try to like the divisiveness of stuff. And I don't know. I just never grew up that way. And it's just when I see it, it's just a

crazy thing to me because I have best friends that are black. I have best friends that are white. I have best friends that are rich, poor. And growing up, it didn't even matter. Like we grew up, again, grow up in sports so you grow up with all sorts of people and camps growing up and stuff like that so it was just i don't know it was a it was a cool it was a very cool-ass city to grow up in and and i see it now people people save their life savings to come a weekend to miami yeah you know what i mean and i live it and i've lived it for 40 years of my life it's been like here in it blood sweating tears in miami from here to kendal to the now i live on the beach and it's like everywhere and like you go and it's changed, but it's kind of the same.

And it's just, I don't know, it's, it's a very, it's, when I go to other places, it's not as multicultural as it is, as it is here. And I think we're lucky to have grown up in something like this, you know. No, it's one of one. Yeah, it's one. It's, you got everything out here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And which I guess will take me to my next point, you got the food scene, right?

So, I mean, you got every restaurant. Exactly. What would you say are your top five restaurants? in Miami right now. Barbecue slab daddy's up there for me right now. He just opened, but I've seen that, I've seen that guy and age knows what he's doing. I mean, again, I'm a simple person.

Tropical Chinese is my go-to Chinese spot, and it's been since high school, you know, and it still is. I love what Chuck. is doing the Gibson room. I go to a lot. Gibson room's awesome. Yeah, for like, if you want...

So cool little vibe in there. Cool little vibe. The food is spectacular. Drinks are amazing. It has a very New Yorkie feel, dark Gibson. If you want to go somewhere and not be seen, but kind of, you know, you sneak in there. You're going to run into someone there maybe.

But it's like, it's dark enough where, you know, you might be in that corner, you might be in this corner. You might do a little wave and then... Yeah, move on, you know. What else have we been going? I mean, my family, we eat a lot of Thai food. Have you been to Kampai? Campi on 87th.

And, brother, that was our, that was our spot. That is a gem. That was our spot that we would go to after basketball games in Columbus. Yeah. Our crew was right down the street. And I lived in that area. I grew up in that area. I lived right around there.

So me and my girl go there all the time. Like, we just want a little something quick. Fire. Bro, prices are great. The chicken pat ties great. And they have Thai is great. And they have a sushi. sushi.

They have bowls. The sushi's great, too. Yeah, sushi's great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a classic spot. It's a little gem. Man, I like, I don't know. It depends when I'm, I like Prima Pasta by me, which is an Italian spot in North Beach.

It's like a very old school spot, but I mean, that's where I go from my Italian. I'm not trying to go to one of these fancy places. I can't even get a reservation to. Exactly. You know? That's the thing. You don't need to go to all these, like, bougie-ass places. I don't, I don't know.

But I get it. I get why people like it. Of course. Yeah, there's an experience. Exactly. And some of the food's good, you know what I mean? Yeah, of course. But I like my little prima posse.

I walk to, again, tropical Chinese. I don't really walk in there whenever. You know, it's like the simple spots. I'm a simple, I'm a simple person. And I don't need much to make me happy. As long as I'm eating with my boys and my friends and my family having a good time, that's all I need. Oh, yeah. Well, before we wrap it up, I want to, I want you to leave a message, I guess, to anyone that's aspiring to be a creative, be an artist.

Just be them. What would be your advice? I mean, tell your story. Don't try to tell somebody else's story and try to mimic something that's out there just because you see it doing good on, you know, getting traction with popularity and stuff like that. Tell your story.

I don't know, I've learned to, as long as I tell my story, there's a majority of people that are going through the same things that I'm going through. So it's not like I'm only telling my story. I feel like I'm telling a lot of people's story. So just be authentic to yourself. And I think that will come out in whatever you do,

whether it's music, art, podcasting, whatever it is. Just be you. Don't try to be somebody else just to try to, you know, I don't know, to become something or become popular in a sense. Like be you and people,

that authenticity is really what people gravitate to at the end of the day. Facts. Like the quick, the quick popularity things, they come and they go super fast. You see the people that really, that really have that longevity and whatever craft that they do, they're just authentic as can be. And again, people gravitate to that. I feel like, I don't know, I gravitate to that. So I just try to, I don't know, do that in my own music and in what I write.

Yeah, the more true you are to yourself. Yeah. It's very cliche. It's very cliche. But it's the truth. But again, it's a simple, like we talked about before, bringing back to that, keeping it simple. Like, I don't need to portray something on that. And that just makes it harder. And I don't know, I feel like lying is harder than telling the truth at the end of the day. You know, especially in the long run. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. How long are you going to lie for it until the lies catch up to you. Exactly. So just be you and put out, put out, put out whatever you're thinking of putting out and try not to hold it. I used to hold on to a lot of things. And I feel like putting out for me, putting out music. helps me in the creative process of creating something new.

If you hold on to so many things, it's like, you know, it's like caring a lot. Yeah, carrying a lot. You can only carry so many things and you're going to walk so far. But the more stuff you let go, the faster you can go and the longer you can walk. And I just feel like, just put it out. Don't be afraid of, don't be afraid of other people's opinions on it either. You know, just, man, just put it out. And the more you think about things, then you're going to get in your own head.

That's why you shouldn't do something. where it should be more about it's there, it's an idea, just do it. And it's going to happen. It's going to happen where you overthinking because it happens to me. But it's training yourself and your mind to be like, fuck it, just put it out. Do I like it? Yes, I like it.

Put it out. And on to the next one. 100%. Well, I appreciate the time, bro. Oh, yeah. Thank you. It was a good time for conversation. I appreciate it.

Hopefully we see some more music soon. 100%. Oh, yeah. Appreciate it, bro. Thank you, my brother. Hell yeah.