Carlos Gonzales Discusses The Mission, Photography & New Music. 

Where are you from?

San Francisco CA, Mission District

Do you mind giving us a little insight into who Carlos Gonzales is?

Born in Mexico, I came here at a young age. About three years old, I grew up in the Mission District, a Latino growing up in a Latino community very family-oriented and grew up listening to music. 

How did you start making music?

Originally in elementary, I started writing poetry. One of my teachers encouraged me to start writing poetry, and my family was very musical. I have a lot of family members that were into music and stuff. One of my uncles came by one day, and he saw me writing, and he said my son makes music too. He does that little rap stuff you guys are doing. I'm bringing him over, so he brought his son over, and we just threw a Bone Thugs-n-Harmony beat on, and we started going off on it, and that's how it started.   

Secondly, how did you get into rapping?

Primarily because of that, I had never heard of rap before. I only heard Spanish music and stuff like that, and when my uncle brought his son over, he started showing me 2Pac, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, we were listening to it. I was like, okay, this is kind of dope, not I'm used to, and this is not what my family used to, so that's how it started. 

What was that process like?

In the beginning, it was very different for me. As I said, I was writing poetry, so it began just listening to a beat and writing about whatever I saw in the neighborhood. I would try to put it into words. Or if it were something I felt, I would express it as much as I could. So it would start off listening to a beat, and if the moment hit home, I would start writing music to it. That's the process I would use.  

When did you realize you had a talent for rapping?

I went to Los Angeles for a year, and at first, I was messing around with it, and I wasn't taking it seriously. I moved to Los Angeles to attend a music school to become a sound engineer. When I was out there, I was putting a lot of music out. And people started telling me I liked your music, and I stopped for a little bit and moved back to the Bay Area. When I moved back to the Bay Area, many people started coming up to me like "Hey man, I like that song you put out" or "I like this song you put out" songs I even forgot about.  

Who are some of your rap influences?

2pac, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Messy Marv, San Quinn, and Celly Cel are the main ones I listened to when I was young. 

What inspires you?

Every day what you see every day and what you go through, my family, I might not be going through a good situation, but writing it helps me find inspiration to keep doing better. Instead of letting out what you're going through differently, writing is what helps inspire me to get out of the situation. 

On the other hand, how did you get into photography?

It started because I wanted to get a music video done, and I was hitting up music video directors, and they were charging crazy prices. And I couldn't afford it so what I did was I went out and bought a new camera and started doing video editing and one day somebody came up to me and asked: "hey can you take some pictures for me." So I was like, alright, and so I started doing that and I just like capturing moments in time where you're just walking down the street and you somebody you don't know, and you take that picture and capture something that's how it became. One of my friends gave me a film camera, and that's when I started really getting into it going to get the film developed and going back to look at it. Also, when I was growing up, you could go to my family's house and see photo albums. Now people show you "look at this picture" on their phone, and my mom would come out and bring like four photo albums like "look at all these pictures when he was growing up. That's also another thing that got me into it. I want to give that to my daughter when she gets older. She can go through all those pictures.    

What type of camera do you use to shoot pictures?

Right now, I'm using a Pentax. It's a Pentax camera. I used to have a Canon, but right now, I'm using a Pentax. It's 35mm.

What's one of your favorite photos? 

It has to be one of my daughters. When I first got the camera, I took a test photo inside my car, and the next image was of my daughter, and when I developed it, they were both merged. And it's the perfect picture because you can see the odometer, and she's doing a Thizz face, and it's perfectly mixed. It's like an accident and represents everything I was doing at that time. I was back and forth from San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. I was constantly thinking of my kid, so it's the perfect image of what I was going through at the time.

Who are some of your favorite photographers?

I haven't been following many photographers, but there is this one girl named Natalia. Her pictures are dope. My boy is doing pictures out here. His name is Santos. He started perfecting his craft. His pictures are coming out dope. My other boy, he's in New York. His name is Danny, and his pictures are dope. I like the pictures they've been capturing lately. All three capture everyday things. It's not like a photoshoot. They charge a person walking at the moment in time. 

What are the most surreal moments have you had so far?

I just got a job in Los Angeles working at a recording studio out there. I have to go back and forth one week I have to go, and one week I don't have to go. I never thought I would get it because it's a studio that just opened up in Hollywood. The person that runs it used to be my old mentor at the recording school I attended. She just reached out of nowhere and was like, "Hey, I've seen you've been making music, and I like what you've been doing," and she said would I like to come work for her down there. My response was really?? me out of everybody, you live in the entertainment world, and you call me. And she was like, no, I want you to come to work out here, so it hit me what I'm doing is starting to make an impact and getting the ball rolling.  

We see a lot of people working and creating through COVID-19. As far as health and working, how are you doing?

I'm doing good. I just got my vaccine. I couldn't move my arm for a day. I'm blessed to have a job still even though people say COVID-19 has been challenging because it's taken a toll on people's health and stuff, but for me and my life, it's made me hustle harder, record more, and develop my talent's I have and pushing stuff out there. 

My last question for you is how San Francisco shaped you?

It excellently shaped me growing up. I saw many things no child or teenager should see, but it did show me what life could be. You had the good side and the wrong side, which shaped me to see the consequences of certain things, but it also showed me what you could get if you do what you have to do. It also shaped me to understand other people. I feel like people are very judgemental and very closed-minded. They don't understand anybody but their selves. Growing up in San Francisco taught me to sit and listen to other people and know where they're coming from because you never know what that person went through. You have to be able to understand it. San Francisco shaped me to understand different people and work with other people and get to meet people. That's what it's all about and who it shaped me to be.