Conversations with Cito Cortez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cito Cortez.

Hi Cito, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
It all started about four years ago, or around my sophomore year of high school. I got bored during one weekend, and decided to just make a song with an instrumental I found off the internet and got to it writing lyrics. I remember making the song through iMovie and kept spitting bar after bar from some lyrics I wrote off on a google doc sheet. Once I finished, I exported the song straight to Youtube and Soundcloud and made my first joint called “School Supreme”. I showed my song around school and people got buzzed knowing I made a little rap song and it gave me a euphoric feeling. Ever since then, I’ve become addicted to making music, and a year after that I started producing my own instrumentals too. Now here I am, trying to get my foot through the door and be taken seriously as an artist in the Hip Hop scene.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road. Since my family values education over anything else, it has been hard trying to focus on my passion and balance that with school work, work that brings in money, family, and overall health no one believes me that I can be someone one day. I mean I get it, everyone wants to be the next biggest thing and make it in music, like that’s me too. The one thing though that makes me different from everyone else right now is that I am so versatile and can learn how to do anything if I set my mind to it. That brings up another struggle I’ve found myself. It has been hard to gain an audience when I can do so many things, I feel like that brings up too much confusion for people to rock with.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself a producer first, but really what I specialize in is being a self-producing recording artist. Currently, I am known for one of my songs “TRACK NEON BLUE” on Spotify with a couple of thousand plays that fit into a wavy or chill sort of vibe. I am currently most proud of my self-produced EP Project Ariamis because I feel it was a major stepping stone into finding a beat selection of my own creation that is unique along with a vocal tone and lyrical content that you don’t hear that often. I would say what sets me apart from others is that I am one of hip hops biggest fans, and with that alone it has pushed to always try and see how I can incorporate elements from outside the scene to bring in fresh new ideas or styles that are either losing taste or haven’t been executed well yet.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I have still yet to find a mentor in music, but mentors, in general, were pivotal in finding myself outside of the music to then bring the things I want to speak on into the music I produce. Networking is something I am still working on since I grew up being so introverted but my biggest advice to others like me is don’t be afraid to look stupid or weird! Embrace that but learn how to fit it in a way that others can understand it so they too can follow with you and respect you. Also, post or dm people on with actual interest and not cookie-cutter messages that dock you into the spam of all the bots. Be real and you will attract others like you who will grow with you!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/CdotCORTEZ
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cdotcortez/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/cdotcortez
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdgVLa7D8D4Ox7-F8HZL_zg/featured
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/c-cortez-348559000
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3YGcWDcMQMrbcMfVYIQx1T