Martin Briones – “Hip Hop Head” at heart

Martin Briones was born in Jacksonville, FL, to a mix raced couple. His father is a retired Filipino Navy officer while his mother is a teacher, of Scottish descent. Coming from a military family he had the unique opportunity in acquiring a wide array of musical influences from the different regions of the world. He has lived in California, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Scotland, but was mainly raised in Virginia Beach, VA. Martin’s musically entailed family background includes a father who is a self-taught guitarist, mother who was a singer, both his brothers are musicians who formed their own punk-rock band The Razor Kings (GoKingdom.net) and his cousin, Lilly Aycud, a highly acclaimed trumpet player. Briones’ musical evolution started at an early age where he first remembers memorizing and reciting songs from Run DMC records. He started taking piano lessons at age eight, and trumpet lessons three years later. In his early teen years, Martin showcased his creativity and musical ability through DJ-ing, song-writing & rapping. At 16, a life changing actualization moment struck and he wanted to change his hoop dreams to a life dedicated to music. Around this time he was introduced to the production side of music by family friend Chad Hugo, of Neptunes and N.E.R.D. By 18, he had established his first, which turned out to be a well-known studio (SkyHigh Studios VA) in the back of his father’s barbershop.

He is part of the triumvirate that forms SkyHigh Music. SkyHigh Music’s collective body of music production includes production with commercials, films, video games, and artists: Uncle Murda, David John, Hitchcock, Ice-T, Flow Sik, Three21Films, NBA 2K Series, and General Motors – Chevrolet commercial. Their innovative sampling, musicianship, layering, and structuring, brings together an aesthetically and emotionally rewarding expression of music that makes it unique from all other works of music.

Martin Briones gathers inspiration from legendary icons’ such as Stevie Wonder and Sade to A Tribe Called Quest and Big Pun to Jodeci and R Kelly. Martin is a true artist and student of music. He looks at his musical journey as a “continuous learning experience, where ideas and inspiration are manifested into music”. He has lived and grown with the culture that inspires popular music today. Drawing from his well-travelled past, he blends a well thought out sum of different styles and genres. An official “Hip Hop Head” at heart, he can still flawlessly incorporate varying ranges to his music, where he can’t only be categorized as a rapper or singer and would prefer to be known for his keen songwriting and production capabilities.

Continuing to create relevant but timeless music, Martin Briones has decided to come from behind the scenes and release his own album. Tentatively titled No Love and continues to write and produce for other artists, I had a chance to chat with Mr. Briones.

ASIANCE: How do you feel like you connect with your music? Do you feel like you connect with your music on a more personal level because of the musical talent that is present in your family?

Martin: I connect with my music because it’s me. It’s my life, what I live and who I am. You can easily tell the mood I am in by the music I am producing. The product is personal because I share mine and the people that are close to my experiences, places we’ve been, things we’ve lived through, seen or even heard about.

ASIANCE: Did you always feel like you’ve connected with music when you were younger?

Martin: Yes, Reminiscing…I remember when I was extremely young; making up songs and performing in front of my family with my brothers. We would make up songs & what not. It was a very natural progression for me. It’s something that I have been doing in some form or another since I was young.

ASIANCE: Can you walk through the creative process of your music? Do you have a vision of how you want your music to sound?

Martin: Being creative is a continuous process. I believe you have to be open, be able to see or find something that will inspire you. It’s an infinite process for me. Being in the studio is a daily ritual; I usually go in and find a beat that strikes a chord or sparks idea… in a sense, I let myself get lost in the instrumental. I experiment with different flows, rhyme patterns & words, different melodies and keep the ones I like and build on them.

When I begin creating a song; I start with a vision or direction of where or how I want to take the song. It usually happens pretty quickly. Going back to your first question, my music is who I am. It’s a lifestyle, a movement of like-minded individuals; who share the same interests, beliefs or feelings.

ASIANCE: When creating music, do you feel more drawn to a certain genre of music when creating a beat? Does mainstream music influence your sound during your creative process?

Martin: When making a beat, I like experimenting and learning and understanding different musical styles or genres. Like all great musicians, I adapt to all situations I encounter. Main stream music influences my sound. All music genres influence my sound, one way or another. I know as an all-around artist, of any craft, you have to understand what is relevant or what strikes a chord with your audience.

ASIANCE: Hip-hop usually has a bad reputation of talking about disrespecting women or being overly sexual. Do you disagree with the reputation that hip-hop has?

Martin: I think it is directly reflective of the society we live in. Nothing is taboo. However, it’s the same for any type of art form, movies to painting and poetry. I believe sexuality has always been a great influence and motivator of art in general…as far as being overtly sexual? That is relevant and it depends on the audience. Not all music or art is for everyone. I think Hip Hop can be brutally honest to a fault, it a first-hand view of what the artist is thinking and doing, so there isn’t much of a filter. On the other hand, that is also why so many people love it.

As far as disrespecting women, I think it isn’t as bad as previous years. The stigma is kind of dying out, directly reflecting to women being more prevalent in music and having their own voice.

As far as my music, I celebrate females. I love and respect all women, until you give me a reason not to (laughs). If I’m speaking of a woman in a negative light, it’s rooted from a real life experience.

ASIANCE: What does hip-hop mean to you?

Martin: Hip Hop to me is the four elements; MC-ing, DJ-ing, B-Boying and Graffiti. It’s how we talk, walk, act and think. The same way people grew up listing to rock & roll or country music and feel drawn to that particular culture. It’s the same for hip hop, it’s a culture. It has taught me a lot, good and bad. I have been raised by Hip-Hop and it has changed the world.

ASIANCE: What kinds of things are you looking forward to in the future? Do you feel like you’ve reached your dream or do you feel like it’s more of a milestone in your life?

Martin: I am looking forward to a long and fruitful career. Not with music alone, but popular culture in general. I really like to see how the lines between genres and styles blurred and how people are capitalizing off of their talents outside of just music. I want to continue to build my brand until it becomes a household name.

Currently, I have accomplished and reached some of the dreams or goals I have set but I’m just getting started. There is still a lot more to come and to achieve. Like everyone, I have big dreams and I’m always working towards and looking forward to the next challenge or project.

Please visit his website www.martinbriones.com