Almost Famous - Mexia, the “Mexican Messiah”
With music running through his bloodline, it’s no surprise that Mexia,
the “Mexican Messiah,” is hip-hop’s newest Spanglish poet with the release
of his digital debut record, Past Present Future. The record was released
on September 29 through Sueños Entertainment, an independent
label he co-founded in the spring of this year with his parents and brother
Raul.
The San Jose native is the son of Hernán Hernández one of the founders,
(along with Mexia’s uncles), of the Grammy award-winning norteño
band Los Tigres Del Norte.
Mexia may share his father’s taste for music, but the 27-year-old prefers to stir the pot with his own original spicy blend of electro hip-hop beats.
“Nowadays in the U.S the Latino youth are not just pigeonholed and we
don’t listen to one thing, we listen to everything and we appreciate everything,”
says Mexia. “We like to make a salsa, a menudo with our music.
That’s how you can describe my music, it’s a fusion of all my influences.”
Mexia’s foray into rap started at the age of 13, when his cousin, who is
a DJ, taught him the tricks of the trade. It was the poetic lyrics of EPMD
and A Tribe Call Quest that influenced Mexia to write poetry, eventually
entering poetry slam competitions at school.
“And then I met a friend who rapped for me and I said, ‘I can do that too’
and take my words, my poetry and actually recite them.”
Mexia’s father was initially “weirded out” by his hip-hop ambitions, seeing
it more as a hobby than anything else. But the legendary artist is supportive
of his son and has given him career advice.
“What he really tries to stress to me is if you don’t have trustworthy people around you then things are not going to go the way you want them to go,” explains Mexia who would love to collaborate with Jay-Z and Calle 13. “The other thing he implemented to me since I was a little kid was to be humble with people. That’s the most important thing to me. The way you treat a person is the way you want to be treated.”
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