Meet Rojelio Capone

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rojelio Capone.

Hi Rojelio, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’m Rojelio Capone, a 22-year-old Mexican-American rapper, producer, podcast host, YouTuber, and graphics designer.

Growing up, people around me considered me to be a huge nerd and it was very evident when I started to code websites in the early 2010s as a pre-teen, and jailbreak and modify smartphones as well. Even before this, I started to learn how to edit videos in 2008, with Windows movie maker as a kid; which would help me further those skills to use now in 2022.

I was 7 years old when my mother’s abusive ex-boyfriend used to play tons of old-school hip-hop! I can recall hearing Dear Mama by Tupac, Cypress Hill, and many more rap groups being played on car rides into town or on the way home.

As time went on, I slowly lost touch with hip hop and by the time I was 16, I was in a pretty rough place, mentally at that time; being bullied at school, having fallouts with my sister at home, and coming off a breakup. That’s when I went looking to the past for comfort from this pain and that’s when Tupac’s “Dear Mama” came straight to my memories in an instant.

During this time, I went into looking up the song and coming across PAC’s discography and falling in love again with hip hop, almost a decade after I first heard rap music. This would eventually lead to me discovering Biggie Smalls, Kendrick Lamar, and other artists as well (with my friend introducing me to Wutang and Nas at the time).

By my senior year of high school, I was completely head over heels for old-school rap music and would write raps in my school binder on a weekly basis. By the end of my senior year, my goal to get a job in tech had faded and my passion to become a rapper had become huge. I however didn’t know how my family would feel about this and decided not to pursue becoming a rapper just yet.

After high school, my mother moved me out to Kentucky where I became a roofing apprentice, waking up at 4:50 am, and getting home around 10 pm most nights. Because of the long days, I would spend most of that time listening to PAC, Nas, and Big L to pass the long work days. By 2018, half a year since I graduated, I was starting to have family issues with my mother, sister, and even my boss at that time. By 2019, the issues grew and with my sister being pregnant at that time, mood swings would end up in long arguments between us…eventually ending with my sister telling me that she and my mom were disappointed in me

As things grew worse in 2019, I knew deep inside that I was a failure. I didn’t chase my dreams, I and my sister were still falling out, and the long work hours were not the life I wanted to live. By August 2019, I planned my move out of Kentucky, returning back to Tennessee to be back home and to start the life I wanted. By September, I left which shocked my mother and sister at the time. My life would now be able to begin.

Here we are in 2022 now, where I’m grinding my goals out! I’ve been madly releasing Chicano-style music and started a platform for other smaller music artists to be heard. This platform is through starting a podcast that’s entirely run by smaller artists and dedicating a large part of my YouTube channel to reacting to smaller artists’ music. This has helped me grow a strong community of smaller artists that work with me to make music and help see my projects come to life.

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?
One of the struggles was choosing myself over my family’s desires for me. Whenever I listened to Logic’s Last Call track, Logic says “you must live selfishly” when it comes to your own goals and happiness. That track single-handedly made me decide that I wanted to become a rapper, even if my family wanted me to do other things. At this time I was back and forth with myself; not chasing my goals so I wouldn’t disappoint my mother

Another struggle has been the process of evolving my music and getting people to listen. When every musician starts out, they will make music that at that time they think is hot, but it’s most likely not! To be able to accept criticism and evolve your music is not as easy as it seems…even getting people to listen is not easy. You have to do what others aren’t! Every small artist is spam-linking their music on socials and saying “stream this track now.” Every artist! The question is, how can you get people invested in listening to your music? I didn’t just tell people to “stream my music” but found creative ways of doing so. One way for example is how I marketed my recent album, “I’m dead as you hear this (director’s cut).” I advertised it as a “suicide letter told in hip-hop form” which got people asking me for the link. The track, “I’m dead as you hear this,” actually starts off with a scripted suicide letter which I used to lure people to listen to it. People hearing this suicide letter, not knowing if it’s real or fake, got them interested with many people tuning in to hear

My next struggle would have to be overcoming hate and backlash for trying to even do what I do. You see tons of celebrities receiving hate comments online these days, but just becoming a rapper will get you a LOT of hate. I’ve received hate and death threats from people for my music and even some of my friends who rap have received them as well. One of the biggest controversies I started was with my mixtape, “underground rap is dead,” a mixtape that calls out some of the scams, scummy behavior, etc. in the underground rap community. Just the title of the mixtape itself has landed me a lot of hate comments and people mad at the fact that I would name the mixtape that.

My last struggle would have to be accepting my creative freedom over commercialization. A lot of music artists don’t want to talk about this, but eventually, you’ll have to decide what direction you want to go with your music. Do you want to make mainstream, commercialized music, extremely limited to catchiness so it can make you money, or do you want to make the music you want to make without any restrictions? Now of course some people like doing both, but for me, I had to decide. I’m well aware the music I make is not mainstream and I won’t become rich off music because I don’t make commercialized music…

I, however, chose this by choice as I would rather make the music I want to over make music I wouldn’t be happy with for a quick buck. The reality people outside of music don’t realize is that the rapper making old-school 90s music is most likely never going to be famous…rather, the rapper making melodic emo trap music will have a much bigger rate of success because of the target demographics

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I, Rojelio Capone am known as a Mexican-American Chicano rapper, a YouTuber, a producer, a podcast host, and a small-name influencer giving other smaller artists a platform to have themselves heard.

A lot of the rap music I’ve done is heavily Chicano, meaning, “Mexican-American.” I tend to switch a lot between Spanish rhymes and English rhymes over old-school beats and modern-day trap beats! I record my music in two places: either at home in my makeshift studio or in my car (I always bring my equipment with me just in case I want to record).

Aside from just rapping, I also produce beats and am a producer myself. Currently, at the time of writing this, I’m recording my own album, producing my brother’s rap EP, and producing a Philadelphia-based rapper’s next Hip Hop R&B project. I couldn’t begin to tell you the hundreds of files of beats, drum kits, projects, and recordings that I do on my iPhone.

Beyond just producing for others, and recording and writing my own music, I’m heavily involved with putting on others too. I’ve spent the last 6 months building a community full of rappers and producers who I’ve worked with in many ventures! On my YouTube channel, I react to a ton of underground artists and rate and review their music and give them feedback. In return, they follow me and listen to my music as well. I also hosted my first contest on my channel a while back, giving rappers and producers the chance to win prizes for their best tracks! In this same contest, I reacted to and gave constructive criticism regarding people’s tracks. This brought me and others closer together, with many people commending me for the feedback and wanting to work with me.

I’ve also started two Spotify playlists that I, rappers, and lofi producers have built which are heavily indie-based playlists. Artists can have a hard time getting onto big Spotify playlists and so I decided to build a playlist built around us, the small guys! Lastly, I started a podcast not too long ago, featuring underground artists, indie music reviews, and so much more! This podcast was a huge project for me and others as it was all built by us, smaller music artists! I feel, in my opinion, that artists should have a much bigger platform to be heard. You can make music and post it to YouTube, but you can still not be heard! With the community I’ve built, artists can reach out to me and I’ll give them the opportunity to be heard beyond just their music!

Aside from music, I’m very proud of my hard work ethic. I’ll be editing music while I’m working, making music during my lunch, and even be up, on the verge of passing out, making music. I’ve probably released well over 70 tracks this last year and have heard from tons of people in my DMs that they “wish they had my work ethic.” 70 tracks in one year?! That’s most mainstream artists, ten-year discography right there! I’m also proud to be one of the very few rappers to keep Chicano rap alive as Chicano rap seems to be fading out of the rap scene. Thankfully with the rise of Spanish pop reaching American audiences, Chicano/Chicana rap has made somewhat of a mainstream comeback with tons of mainstream female rap and pop artists being Hispanic themselves. It’s not even just that, but I think I may be one of the few rappers these days to still have a sense of American pride as well as pride for being Hispanic.

Most rappers whether mainstream or underground would struggle to do as much as I do and could not fathom making so many tracks and then doing a podcast, YouTube channel, etc.

We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is all dependent on your goals and if you can meet them. Is your dream to go viral on TikTok? If you can make that dream happen, you will have succeeded.

A lot of people think riches are the definition of success, but to truly be successful, you have to find happiness in your life, and whether it’s achieving your goals or starting a family, success is all dependent on your willingness to do what you want in this world! You have one life and your happiness is what should matter the most to you.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rojelio_capone/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/YoungDeadBulletProductions
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Vu89kHBlGzPDkefYrbAvE?si=Q5MLnHSgQtWW1ZkCJ9K1Cg