I am alternative hip-hop music artist from East Los Angeles, California. My name Proclaim derives from my core music values of self-expression, free-speech, and musical creativity. Music has always been a huge part of my life. Growing up in the 90’s I became part of East L.A. Chicano gang culture and after many ups and downs I am glad to have made it out alive. Throughout my journey music has always been a huge part of my life. During my teen years I was deeply immersed in west coast hip hop. Later, while in college, I was introduced to the more conscious, reflective, east coast style of hip-hop, and was inspired to start writing my own verses and producing my own beats. After graduating college in 2005 with two degrees in psychology and philosophy I spent the following year recording my first Question Everything that I originally released in 2006. In this album I discussed and tried to work through a lot of philosophical and spiritual questions I was struggling with at the time such as: Is there a God? Why do bad things happen? I also tell stories of who I was at that time and things I’ve been through. 

I then moved on to release my 2nd album Necessary Dissent in 2007. In this album I attempted to express my anger and bring awareness and about the lies president George Bush told the world to invade Iraq. One of the things I stand for in my music is expressing truth. I don’t like being lied to or deceived. I am also proud to be an American. I was upset that George Bush used 9/11 and lies to justify invading a country that never harmed or threatened us. I felt compelled to bring awareness to this through music. 

After completing my first two albums Question Everything and Necessary Dissent I stumbled on what many in the music industry call the 80/20 rule which is that making music is 20% of the work of being a music artist and the 80% percent is the marketing it takes to get your music out to the world for people to actually listen it. At that time I was not interested in climbing the mountain of music marketing. This was a time when the music industry was still dominated by major labels. There were no independent distribution companies, and the main way to be build an fanbase and be discovered was through doing shows which was something I also wasn’t very interested in doing. During this time I also started working in the mental health field as part of my undergraduate psychology internship. While I was working to help at risk youth in group homes I was inspired by one my supervisors to go to graduate school and become a licensed psychotherapist. In doing so I chose to longer pursue music as a career. Music was still there but it took a backseat to academic studies. I moved to San Francisco in 2008 and where I completing my master’s degree in counseling psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2010. However, after completing that program I found that I still had a lot of unanswered philosophical questions I wanted to understand better so I moved to the United Kingdom to pursue a 2nd master’s degree in philosophy at the University of Liverpool. After achieving that degree and moving back to Los Angeles in 2011 and I worked in community mental health as I completed my clinical training hours. I started my own practice as a licensed psychotherapist 2014. I formed and launched my own personal development & mental health counseling company where I was able start hiring and guiding other psychotherapists who shared similar theoretical interests. My company started growing and I was thriving in my work as a therapist. At this time thought I was done with making music. I also started teaching psychology as an adjunct professor at local junior college. In 2017 I unexpectedly returned to creating music. In all sincerity, I thought I was done with creating music but upon meeting my soon to be wife the desire and drive to write and record serendipitously came back. I spent the next 5 years working on my latest album, “Climbing Higher.”

Climbing Higher is the culmination of 5 years of musical growth and creation. While in the recording process I realized that my previous albums did not have the level of mixing and mastering I was now looking for. I spent the first few years struggling in YouTube university going through painful trial and error in learning various mixing and mastering skills until I got some remnant of the sound I was looking. This is one reason why the album is titled Climbing Higher. I wanted to take my music to the next level in terms of overall sound quality. The 2nd reason is that I now am a different stage in my life in terms of career and family and the songs discuss that transition. The songs on climbing higher reflect many turning points and issues I’ve struggled with along the way. I know I still have a long way to go and lot to learn in my growth as an artist. This album was definitely a few steps up in the right direction for me in terms of overall musical quality and artistic growth. I hope all who listen to it can relate to the journey I went through because we are all on the same journey, it just looks a little different for each of us.

My goal is to make as much meaningful music as possible. I write music with substance based on my own personal struggles, experiences I’ve been through, ideas I’ve studied, and stories of people I’ve met along the way. I don’t know where this road may lead but I’m trusting my intuition and letting it guide me. If you like what you hear please join me on my journey. Thank you for your love, attention, and support. – Proclaim