“I'm an artist, a musician, dancer, vocal engineer, songwriter, rapper and singer. I'm always around music no matter what time of day. Being in the music world, I've networked with both small and big artists.”
“I'm on a music label myself. Shout out to HMG Music Group (Hustle Motivate Grind). If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have certain connections with people, and I wouldn't have a big platform to market my music.”
“I’ve sacrificed a lot of time, money and friends. I spend a majority of time in my home music videos. It's basically a second job. I don't do music as a hobby. I want to make a business out of it. I sacrificed a lot of money on equipment, leases for beats, marketing, distribution, and making music videos. I hope to make it all back in the future.”
“With friends, I had to push a lot of people away. When people don’t support me and my music, I leave them out of my life. I don’t need any negativity from them.”
“My life goal is to own an independent record label just like Jay Park, who made his label to be one of the biggest labels out in Korea. I want to follow his blueprint and do the same thing in the US.”
“Nowadays, I’ve taken my own path to do things myself without relying on help for others.”
“Follow Alex”
“The biggest mentor I have is myself but also my friend Jessie Cabrera. He’s more like a best friend who gives me guidance whenever I need it. He's helped me. He put me in song contests, demo work for mainstream artists, and connected me with his friends in the music world. I can't thank him enough.”
“Also, I’m my own worst critic. I wasn't the best singer or rapper growing up. I was ok but not like Eric Bellinger or Chris Brown level.”
“My biggest inspirations are artists that I follow and my friend: Jay Park (CEO of AOMG and H1GHR Music), John Concepcion (artist), and Jessie Cabrera (friend & artist). They really do work hard and play a big role in my life. Everything that they do is really inspiring to me and makes me want to push hard to reach the goals I want to reach.”
“I taught myself vocal and note control, breathing techniques that work for me, and recording techniques. All of it comes from trial and error. I learn from my past mistakes to improve.”
“One lesson that I learned is that your friends are not your fans. They see you for you, not as an artist. It's no hard feelings and I've come to terms with that. So instead of trying to turn my friends into fans, I invite them into my progress. I want to bring them on the journey with me. I don't want to disappear then out of nowhere show them where I'm at now.”
“I would tell my younger Alex not to procrastinate and quit being lazy. I procrastinated a lot. I also tend to take on different projects at once and not get them completed.”
“My vision for the next 3-5 years is to move to California to pursue music more seriously and become a bigger artist.”
"The goals I want to reach:
have 10,000+ monthly listeners on Spotify, collaborate with artists that I have been following for years, and
earn profits from my music equal to or more than a weekly paycheck from my normal job.”
“Once everybody is allowed into public more comfortably, I want to perform in more shows and on stage, live! ”
“I want to represent the Lao community whenever I do anything because in the US, we aren't very well known. Every time people ask me what ethnicity I am, I would tell them Lao but they have no idea what it is. I would have to ask them if they know what Thai is and then tell them that Laos is similar to Thailand since Thailand is more known. It's a little disappointing to me that not a lot of people know. So I want to educate people on what Lao people and culture is whenever someone asks.”
“What I embrace most about being Lao is the food and family. No matter how far we are from each other, we always come together to spend quality time. I love that we maintain our community. I would love to have a bigger Lao community here in Toledo because we’re too small and spread out here.”
“How I embrace Lao culture with my friends is showing them the food we eat. A lot of my best friends love Lao food. Lao egg rolls, chicken, sausages, pho, kow piak, sticky rice, thum mak hoong. The list goes on. My friends really enjoy my mom's cooking. I love seeing the look on their faces when they enjoy the food that we make.”
Alex’s story is part of The Lao Project, a collection of narrative portraits of Lao Americans.
My name is Vekonda Luangaphay and I started The Lao Project In light of 2020 Lao New Year and Asian History Month. Click below to read more stories from The Lao Project.
