Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Perez.
Hi Michael, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was always into poetry as a kid. I just loved writing poems about life. But then my mom passed away from kidney cancer when I was just 11 years old. I looked to my father for emotional and mental support, but he was, of course, also grieving the loss of his wife, my mother. So because he was grieving as well, he dove headfirst into alcoholism.
Every day was its own battle and with that, I started writing angry letters, lots of angry letters. In the time between 2003 and 2006, I had faced a life’s worth of trauma with sexual assault at a sleepover, nonstop child abuse, and neglect. In 2006, on my 13th birthday, I actually ended up going to an orphanage so to speak.
I ended up going to a foster family until I turned 18 in 2010 when I started to really write music. I wanted to be a hip-hop artist. I didn’t care to get rich or be famous. Music was my escape, and so all I wanted was for my pain, or my trauma, to be heard through music. But it was mainly negative music, just music with many angry thoughts.
In 2014, my son was born. But he was born four months early with so many issues. The doctors had told me at three different times that my son would not make it out of the hospital, but on Valentine’s Day in 2015, I was able to carry him out of the hospital. My son being born taught me how to actually live a life rather than survive it. I now had a purpose and my purpose helped me to change everything I was writing about.
I stopped writing angry songs, though I still wrote depressing ones. And one of those depressing songs I wrote was called “Rescue Me”. Rescue Me was about being at the end of your rope in depression and giving out one last scream for help hoping that anybody would hear you. I performed that song live in 2019, and I saw a girl crying in the front row reaching out her hand I knew she connected with the song so I held her hand while rapping the first verse.
I started writing songs about Mental Health, my mental health mainly. Soon, I started writing more inspiring songs to help battle mental health or to let someone know that they are not alone in how they feel and I wrote those songs in a way that people can relate to in their own situation rather than my own.
After a while, I started writing songs to help me keep a positive mindset and I do that alot more nowadays. I call it a GuideBook for my son.
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 definitely not been a smooth road.
I faced and still face today alot of roadblocks such as other musicians shunning me or promoters not liking my music so they choose to not want to work with me sometimes. I feel like that all comes with the territory. In 2016 I did go homeless and almost lost my son. It really did put a damper on my music because of course my son comes first so I needed to get my life right first.
When the pandemic hit, some venues in my city buckled and closed unfortunately and it made it harder to get back on a stage nowadays because the rebirth of the music scene was also the rebirth of musicians. The music scene has so many artists that not everybody can get on a stage nowadays and that’s fine because the artists are always talented and driven.
It just means we have to find other means of getting a stage. It’s part of the territory.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do Mental Health Hip-Hop. Sometimes it entails me rapping extremely fast like Rittz or even a slow rap.
I think I specialize in rapping fast and then immediately slowing down without a break or changing the tone in my voice while rapping without taking a break. I am usually known for having some emotional or deep thinking music and I’ve been called on it, but I just laugh about it.
I am the proudest of making music that my own son sings randomly. It means the positive messages stick with him. I think what sets me apart from other artists in my city is that I speak PRIMARILY about mental health. Everyone else just speaks on mental health here and there.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My first mentor was Tea Why. He taught me the basics of rap. He taught me the different ways I could say things. I had a second mentor for a very brief period of time, he taught me a little bit about producing. So I guess what worked for me was just being really interested in learning.
Like, I actually wanted to learn more than what they told me. I picked their brains as much as I could. So for networking, just get out there. Go to the shows and listen to the local artists. They may be better than what you’re used to hearing. Listen to their set, let me know if you heard their set and you wanna work.
Most times, they’ll give you a business card, they may point you to their merch booth, and they may help you find their social media on your phone right there on the spot. Get out and network.
Contact Info:
- Email: 13chapter11@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/13One1/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCJUmZ90hvpO-4XiUR6B2JXA
Jess
May 25, 2022 at 10:08 pm
C13 helped me in a time of need a few years back. I was lost and addicted to drugs and he never judged me for it. Instead he reminded me that I was human and it’s ok to feel even if I was feeling pain. Eventually, I got clean and taught myself different ways to cope with those negative feelings and I owe a lot of that to Michael himself. His music was very relatable and I am still so lucky to have had him as such a close friend when nobody else would give me a chance.