He grew up in the Bronx in the Patterson Projects and he doesn’t forget where he came from. “I try and represent where I’m from every time,” he says. “I think we’re in a time where we should promote unity and be together. He released an album last year called Five where he has collaborations with a mix of artists, including Pitbull, Tyga, Shakira, and Zendaya. “A lot of these songs I wrote at home. I have a studio in my house, New York, and LA. Some are experiences, some are just things that happened to my friends and family. Almost every song has some connection with my life experience. If it’s not the present, it is the past. So every song is connected to me in some way, shape or form.”
“I’m from the Bronx. I grew up in Patterson Projects; my biggest motivation is not going back to the projects. The motivation is that I know what it feels like to be poor, I know what it feels like to live in the hood. So now I’m successful and making money and able to help my family out, to inspire the youth or people like me, Latinos from the Bronx, or people that grew up like me—they know what I’m talking about with that environment. I think that’s my motivation: you continue to work hard because you know what the lavish life is, and you know what it is to struggle. I always try to talk about that story because I think it inspires a lot of people and it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance and believing in yourself. It needs to start with you. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will. So that’s what drives me. My family, my friends, my cousins come to Miami and they’re able to party and have fun and I get them drinks and whatever, and that’s not something I would do back in the day. I think family, friends and my fans are my inspiration. I don’t want to let anybody down.”
