In a small city in New Mexico named Espanola, nicknamed the “Lowrider Capital of the World”, sitting about 30 minutes north of Santa Fe, rapper Versatile spent the bulk of his childhood. He adapted his stage name after a fan pointed out on his flexibility when rapping both in Spanish and English, and his ability to infuse his Hispanic background into his Pop / Hip-Hop musical style.
When asked if he feared being compared to other bi-lingual rappers such as Pitbull, he says no, and goes on to explain that while he holds a great deal of respect for Pitbull as has successfully incorporated Spanish lyrics into nearly every feature and song that he has done, and effectively branded himself as well, Versatile feels that his style is quite different and he has found his own niche. In fact, he says that he has met and talked to Pitbull in person, describing him as an extremely nice person, and saying that he was encouraged by him to keep doing what he is doing.
Gaining inspiration from world-changers such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Obama, Versatile says that he also gets a lot of his inspiration and influence from his parents, who both passed away from Cancer. His mother lost her battle to breast cancer last year, and his father, who has been a smoker since the age of fourteen, lost his own battle to cancer two years prior. Both parents were in their 40’s. His mom a teacher and his dad a car salesman, Versatile explains that although they didn’t have a lot of money, they always supported his music career as best as they could. When he was recording his first album in El Paso, his mom took out a loan to help pay for his studio time. His father went with him to the studio and was there while he recorded it. By this time, his dad was very ill and unable to work outside the home. But he stayed up all night burning copies of his CDs. Versatile went out and sold them on the street, making $10,000 just from pushing them on his own (selling 1,000 copies).
His current single called “No One Compares” is currently playing on the radio in 26 different markets, from Albany, New York all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It features Dallas Blocker. The music video has received nearly 300,000 views on YouTube.
Versatile plans to release his next single next month, called “Let ‘Em Stare” featuring Mickaël, who also featured with Baby Bash in Slim Thug’s “Swananana” and sang the hook on Baby Bash’s “Cyclone” featuring T-Pain, which has been certified double platinum by RIAA, selling over two million copies worldwide, the same as Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro”.
“Now or Never” is available on iTunes. The deluxe version will be released mid August featuring bonus tracks.
