By Estefania Torres |Staff Writer|
Adrian Gamboa, also known as AG, has the key that leads to stronger success.
The aspiring rapper realized his talent for writing music in middle school when he created versus on MySpace.
However, it wasn’t until high school that he decided to take things a bit more seriously and compose his own music.
Sacrificing his lunch money, the Riverside native began to save up for recording equipment.
He saved enough money to buy a microphone and initiated his journey to making music.
The rapper became noticeable on campus for his artist’s views.
However, he took some time off to master producing and writing.
Coming onto the CSUSB campus, AG decided it was time to make his music and love for the craft public again.
“For me, it’s always just the love for music, I like the feeling that I get when I make something.”
The aspiring artist collaborated with individuals that lead to friendships contributing their creativity to his project.
AG and a group of his fraternity brothers and friends joined together to form the eight-member crew “Not For Sale.”
“The whole meaning behind ‘Not For Sale’ is that we don’t sell out the integrity, yourself as a person, or your art for what other people want you to do,” said Gamboa.
Once his crew was official and had a name to go by, the aspiring rapper knew it was the perfect time to release his first 14 track album called “Castles in the Sky.”
The first track off the album, “The Arrival,” immediately hooked to the fast pace beats and clear, meaningful lyrics.
“I got my foot on the gas/ So take the break off/ I never take a day off/ I’m out here trying to take off.”
The production put into these tracks are infused with high quality sounds and all I kept thinking was, “Why isn’t this music on the radio yet?”
“What makes him different is the quality of his music and production…if I heard it on the radio I would think this guy is famous already, he has this unique flow and great vocabulary that puts him over any other local artist,” said listener and fellow brother Abel Arriora.
When interviewing AG I couldn’t help but notice how humble he is despite having opened for various big name artists like Action Bronson, Kid Ink, MGK, and 2 Chainz.
AG also collaborated with Philadelphia rapper Tayyib Ali for the song “All I Know” off his new album.
As for this year, the college senior has a lot of things planned with his music.
The musician started recording his second album and plans to perform at least once a month to gain a much bigger fan base.
However, having a bigger fan base isn’t as important to the rapper unless his music means something to the listener.
“To have people believe in the music, that’s the whole point, that’s all I want even if one person can listen to the song and feel something about it and feel happy then that’s all that matters,” said the 22-year-old.
“Castles in the Sky” is available on Gamboa’s website, Agofficial.com, and I highly recommend that all music lovers take a listen and support your local artist.
Leave a Reply