Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andrew Garcia. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andrew , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

As of right now in this point of my life, my two studio albums “Beginning Of A Legacy” and “Aspen Ridge” are two recent projects I hold very close to my heart.

“Beginning Of A Legacy” tells the story of a young adolescent boy, trying to find his place and meaning in life. Suffering from neurological issues such as migraines, night terrors, mental episodes, and hallucinations on a daily basis, I found myself surrounded by a place darkness and a crowd more than less acceptable in order to deal with my personal grief. Beginning of A Legacy focuses on the trials and tribulations of my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual battles against these energies and spirits I faced as a young teenager, and is used to let listeners know that they are not alone in ever feeling like a “BlackSheep,” and to use this feeling as a source of strength, and motivation to stay true to yourself and everything you want to do in life, no matter the obstacles you may face before you.

“Aspen Ridge” was the project I focused on creating during the first initial Covid-19 lockdown. Being confined within your personal housing seems like all fun and games until you’re left alone with a combination of both sober and non-sober thoughts. Aspen Ridge highlights the type of unknown state our world is currently living in and the types of things we see within it on a daily basis. From personal and international issues of the past, to the present, and into the future; Inflation and supply shortages, to government corruption & political divides in society, along with the unknown questioning of what is going to happen to our well being as a society? “Aspen Ridge” aims to take the listener on an informal, yet forgetful journey about what we are doing right and wrong within this life, and how we can make a change for the better.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As I get closer to entering my 23rd year of life, I know that I want to make a mark on this world through both my culinary, and musical creations, it’s what I’m proud of. The name “Andy Tha Rapper” started off as some, gimmick, alter-ego personality type thing, but as I continued to grow and evolve within my musical and personal life, I began to understand that “Andy Tha Rapper” isn’t some other person or an unknown part of me, “Andy Tha Rapper” is me in my entirety; The good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in-between. “Andy” being stemmed from the name of my grandfather, and “Tha Rapper” taking a self-motivating twist on what was an attempt to belittle me, I stand strong on the goals and objectives I aim to accomplish in life.
Being a full-time student, a Full-time chef, all while trying to pursue a career in music, is definitely draining. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, but it’s the factly matter that I focus on my own progress in what I am doing that allows me to stay pushing so hard and consistently within the things I do.
I think that’s something a lot of people get lost on within this day and age.
People see the person next to them doing the most and having so much, and think, “Man, I’m not doing enough, I suck, that should be me!”
When in reality, they should be saying “Man, I’ve been working so hard lately, I know I’m going to be up next, I just have to stay at it!”
Don’t use another persons blueprint as your path to success. Travel the routes that are made for you, take in the journey, learn from it, BE PROUD, of what you are doing. Whether you’re an independent artist, a chef in training, a full time parent, an owner of a business, or somebody simply just trying to survive: BE PROUD!
You wouldn’t have come this far if it wasn’t for your hard work, constant efforts, and endless battling against the odds. Especially for the individuals who have nobody but themselves, it’s important to be proud of yourself. It’s what gives you the drive to keep one-upping yourself each time you go back to the grinding stone, so be proud of yourself, because I’m proud of you; So don’t stop fighting that fight now.
While I am currently working on writing multiple singles, plans for my next album are currently unknown at this moment; Although, I will be focusing on bringing all of my currently released songs to life with multiple music videos scheduled throughout the next year, along with new lines of merchandise. “Beginning Of A Legacy” and “Aspen Ridge” are out now and are available to stream through your favorite music platforms. I’m Andrew Garcia, also known as Andy Tha Rapper, and I hope you come and join the ranks of the #ATRMY!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I actually had this kind of conversation with a coworker AND a classmate a couple of weeks ago. Personally, I think something that is hard to understand to non-creatives is, that we don’t want to spend the majority of our life, our free time, our CREATIVE time, having to revolve around another person or companies work schedule with little to no concern of what that person may be trying to accomplish outside of their usual work environment. When an individual is good at creating, they know it, and they won’t settle for any less. They know, that if they just have the right piece, with the right people, at the right time, it’s game over and they won’t have to work for anybody anymore, and that’s what they push so hard for, and I think that’s what a majority of the crowd really comes down to. While many individuals create as way to express and relieve themselves, the other half of that crowd wishes they could simply make a livable wage doing what they love doing without having to leave their house, their “creative space.”

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Pfft, all of them. From being able to produce and record myself, to being able to create my own merchandise and graphic animations. If there was one reason I would go back in time, it would be to acquire and learn all of these skills and mechanics myself. You can never have too many tools in your toolbox, and while I am working on adding to my collection; These type of aspects are what could have saved me, or WILL SAVE YOU, hundreds of thousands of dollars from the start. Not only will you avoid having to pay other people for these types of services; You’d be able to sell and provide them yourself! Luckily, I am working on capitalizing from this mistake myself, while also informing any new individuals within the music industry to invest towards themselves and their craft and do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/AndyThaRapperATR
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andytharapperatr/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndyThaRapper
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Official_A_T_R
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfO2QDXwd_PkPw0j0plHMaQ

Image Credits
The Dragon of Bad Vibe Studios SmokeToTheCeiling HIEROGFX