We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eric Velasquez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Eric, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project Ive worked on has been my latest string of song releases, which all follow a specific narrative. The narrative follows the idea of me falling deep into many foul practices as a young person growing up in a very shallow and un-developed city (before moving to Tampa), and describing through each song different struggles and trauma I’ve dealt with, and what it took to basically get out of my circumstance and onto a more productive, safer lifestyle. This project is not only about the past, and how I removed myself from a certain set of circumstances, but also about the current and future aftermath of things that I deal with currently as a bi product of what had came before. Writing this project helped me to put a lot behind me and put many feelings into words in order to move forward.
Eric, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My artist name is ‘Wordplaii’ which comes from my ability to twist and mangle words in order to fit specific ideas in creative ways not thought of before. I got into songwriting and rapping when I was very young as a way to get out a ton of negative emotions I was dealing with and also helped me to build a certain level of confidence through art that wasn’t always present in my normal identity. I think one thing that sets me apart from others is authenticity. This is not something Im doing in attempt to look a certain way, or put on some type of image. This has always been a way for me to communicate my own personal narrative and life experiences, which are very relatable at times, to people alike, making myself very vulnerable in order to do so. It makes me proud as an artist to show people that no matter how far you are setback or how deep into certain holes of emotion you fall into, there is always a way to feel and express these things in order to move forward.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
In my personal opinion there is a very simple answer and that is LISTEN AND SHARE. All too often society gets very caught up in the business aspect of art and loses sight of the fact that we all became artists for one reason in the first place, to be seen and heard. Sometimes people of society are too scared of the popularity contest going on to share things they come across and enjoy due to fear of rejection, but sharing the things you enjoy without care of what others may think of you is where support truly comes from. So when you hear or see art that you enjoy, SHARE IT, whether is unknown, or at the top of the charts.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect is soaking in the completion of a project that has been finalized in a way I am proud of. Whenever I have an idea for a song, create the song structure, execute the performance, and finalize the mix, and it sounds just like I intended or even better, the feeling is like something I can’t feel anywhere else. It’s like wow I really did this, and I want everybody to hear it. Because on the flip side, sometimes you want to sound a certain way or create a certain idea and it just isn’t working, and you may sit there for hours in frustration. It’s almost never an easy route to create something from scratch.
Contact Info: