During his daily commute from Queens to Manhattan to go to high school, Gianni Villegas would always wear his headphones to block out the city’s noise. This habit hasn’t changed.

While he maneuvers around Syracuse University’s campus, he wears his AirPods everywhere, but now he is listening to himself.

The aspiring rapper has a passion for music that goes deeper than beats and rhymes. He is the most confident he’s ever been now — all thanks to the music he’s created and a leap of faith he took his sophomore year.

As an SU senior, Villegas is studying information management and technology, but he knows that creating music is his calling. His short stint with beat-making in high school helped him come to the realization that the music industry is where he wants to be.

“I knew once I tried (making beats), I wanted to do something with music,” he said. “I was just scared.”

But Villegas’s freshman and sophomore years of college got the best of him. His major didn’t align with his career goals, and he became wrapped up in trying to find where he fit in socially.

“I hated IT, and I was also falling into the social trap of college,” he said. “Everything that I was doing was not providing growth to myself, but I would always write. Writing is therapeutic to me. I would write to just release emotions or reflect.”

Villegas bonded over music with his freshman year roommate, SU senior Matt Madrigal. Both fans of Steve Lacy, Villegas wrote a verse over one of Lacy’s instrumentals because of his interest in combining rap with the indie and funk elements that Lacy uses.

At this time — the fall of his sophomore year — Villegas was taking a film class that required three film projects. Madrigal, who is a film major, offered to shoot him rapping the verse in a music video. This allowed Villegas to turn it in for class, and it also pushed him to begin sharing his music.

“I was like ‘this is going to give me incentive to share my music,’” Villegas said. “It was a class project, but I was still scared to share it on my own. I needed to make it real.”

Villegas credited his fear of self-exposure and audience reception as the reasons that he was so hesitant to release his music. It wasn’t until the end of his sophomore year that he decided to conquer this fear. He shared the song on his SoundCloud and began creating and releasing music consistently.

“Everything was based on what people thought. Their perspective, their opinion, their perception of myself. That was the whole fear of everything,” he said. “I shared it when I came back home and was like, ‘I’m just going to keep doing (this).’”

This past June, Villegas performed live for the first time at S.O.B.’s in NYC. The Manhattan music venue has been a platform for numerous up-and-coming artists over the years. Artists like Drake, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar all graced S.O.B.’s stage early in their careers. Now Villegas’s name is on that list.

When he got on stage, the first thing he said to the audience was, “Yo, I’m really nervous.” Villegas said that he did that because he felt it was important to share his vulnerability with the crowd to boost himself up.

While Villegas drew a crowd of around 60 people, he said he is most proud of being able to share the moment with his family and friends. Villegas said he didn’t expect to see so many of his friends and family at the venue, especially those that wouldn’t normally be in the same space together. But he said it calmed his nerves.

“These people are not supposed to be in the same room but were there because they were sharing love with me. It felt like I did (that). I brought people together,” Villegas said. “That was empowering to me. Love is really empowering.”

SU senior and Villegas’s girlfriend, Valerie Torres, said she admires his work ethic and that he has a very warm personality.

“He’s my best friend and a star,” Torres said. “Every space he walks into, he brightens. He’s always looking out for everyone. He’s my favorite person.”

Growing up, Villegas said he always heard his dad and grandfather playing Colombian salsa. But, he said that he recently started appreciating music from his background.

Through his journey of personal growth and self-discovery, Villegas said he has learned the importance of being vulnerable and believing in himself. He said that he is the most confident he has ever been, and he believes his genuineness is what makes him stand out.

“This music stuff helped me be less afraid as I go,” he said. “It’s about just being who you are in whatever moment you’re at in your life. There’s no such thing as being too much of yourself.”

Courtesy of Alberto Lainez

Beruk Teshome, SU senior and close friend, said Villegas is one of a kind. Teshome and Villegas met their freshman year at SU and clicked over their similar interests — including music. Teshome said that he’s never met anyone that is as “genuine and positive” as him.

“He provides a sense of confidence and security to himself and others that whenever you’re with him, you seem like everything is going to be ok,” Teshome said. “And I think that’s what he tries to convey in his music. I’m proud of what he’s done.”

Villegas is currently working on a new project and hopes to drop a single by December. He hopes to create a music video to accompany each song.

Music has always been Villegas’s getaway. It distracts him from the outside world, allows him to create his own happiness and be the “ruler of everything,” he said. Because of this, he is finding himself on his own terms.

“When I listen to music, it’s all about me,” he said. “I feel like every human has to be selfish in order to understand who they are, and that’s one thing music allows me to do. That’s why I grow. That’s why I love myself. Because I make it about me.”

Published on October 2, 2019 at 1:07 am