Who Is Hearbrake Papi?

HEARTBREAK PAPI is an American artist from the city of Camden, NJ. He began his career in 2017 with his debut R&B album “October Forever”. Why “October Forever”? Not only do HEARTBREAK and DRAKE share a birthday together (Oct 24th), his mother’s birthday also falls in October (Halloween). HEARTBREAK has cultivated a following of die-hard October-born fans supporting and following him every step of the way in his path of creative evolution. With a year-round October mood, PAPI has gone as far as releasing 90% of his records in the spooky month. That recently changed with the release of his 1st rap album!

HEARTBREAK is back with a new sound that highlights more of his bars, catchy melodies, and provocative lifestyle in his upcoming album “Bodied By A Singing Ni**a”. The hip-hop project focuses on influences and production from super rap connoisseur HowSway.

Hey HEARTBREAK PAPI Thanks for coming to Honk Magazine to talk about your music career. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path? 

HEARTBREAK PAPI – Although I’m from Camden (New Jersey), my music career started in Queens, New York. I grew up extremely close to my cousins after my father passed in 1997. My aunt would pick me up every summer and this gave me the opportunity to learn the creation of music once my cousin/rapper “AllRealJosh” acquired a microphone, Mac desktop, and Protools DAW. This is the same cousin that witnessed me write my 1st song at just 13 years of age. The same cousin that gave me my 1st Eminem CD, The Eminem Show, which changed my life forever. I never owned neither a mic nor a computer to record. But every time I traveled to Queens he gave me the opportunity to learn and develop my skills in between his sessions with other seasoned artists. I’ll never forget being 15 years old and taking the Greyhound to the MTA to get from Camden to New York. The longest trip of my life, but was well worth it every single time.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

HEARTBREAK PAPI – My music career has seen many interesting happenings since its initial inception. From my 1st record, “October Forever”, being produced by Migos’ producer Will Major, to performing at The Wells Fargo Center in PA with a live band on tour, to being seen on national TV while at the MTV Red Carpet awards in 2019.

But I would have to say the most interesting thing was being booked to perform in front of thousands of beautiful Latinos for the Puerto Rican Day Parade in Jersey City, NJ!  I was able to make my Puerto Rican mother extremely proud that day. My booking agent, K.C. Matias (512 Quantum Sound), actually recently confirmed that I’ve been invited back to perform this year on August 15th!

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that? 

HEARTBREAK PAPI – The funniest mistake I made when I first started was naming myself “Mr. Xo”. I did not initially believe in my ability to be a songwriter, but I believed in my singing. So, I began my career by covering songs by The Weeknd (my favorite artist at the time). My 1st cover was “Rolling Stone”. Then I continued covering his dark and ominous sounds from before “The Trilogy” until I began songwriting myself as HEARTBREAK PAPI.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

HEARTBREAK PAPI – My newest and MOST interesting project is “Bodied By A Singing Nigga” (B.B.S.N.). My 1st hip-hop album was produced by HowSway with features from Puerto Rican Dimee, AllRealJosh, and Pueblo Nuke.

The album is actually a story about a singer who begins believing in his rap abilities. He eventually reaches fame with his bars and catchy melodies, allowing him to live the very lavish lifestyle of a rapper.

Since the completion of “B.B.S.N.”, HowSway and I have been in the studio working on “Days After Bodied”. We plan on dropping that in August. All of our other time is being spent perfecting “No Pictures Please” for an October release. We have about 3-4 more albums pretty much done in the vault. It’s just about timing, perfecting, and proper release. Trying to promise the biggest impact to the masses.

Lastly, I’ll mention that I have started seriously working on my acting profile. It’s something I build in private. I have been a part of numerous notable productions and want to take my music/image to the next level. A handful of directors have given me auditions. One recently gave me the opportunity to provide the entire soundtrack for her film. I am truly humbled and look forward to where things go within that sector of entertainment for me and my team.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

HEARTBREAK PAPI – My first producer, Brandon aka The Hart Healer, introduced me to Sza a few times. Those were brief but precious moments to me. Not only was she humbly gorgeous in person, but I was just starting my music career and was a huge fan of her work. She was nominated for 5 Grammy’s later that year. But before she was starring in Adidas commercials, she took the time to listen and comment on one of my earlier records produced by Brandon of the group The Arsenals. I know I have the screenshot somewhere. Precious private moments.

Another memorable moment was meeting Bad Bunny at the 2019 VMA Red Carpet awards. As a fellow Boricua it’s been a pleasure to witness what he’s done around the world coming from our small island. You can’t ask for a better role model. He’s creatively one of my biggest inspirations.

DV Castings brought me a few memorable moments with few major artists. They are a NY based casting agency that blessed me with the opportunity to be in music videos with Jadakiss, Pusha T, XXXtentacion, and Ikabod Veins. I got to speak with Jadakiss on a personal level after mentioning my ties to MalaCara 809 & Konvict Latino. While sitting on stage with Ikabod Veins he asked about the tattoo on my neck that says “October Forever”. He told me “that would be a sick name for an album”. I immediately jumped at the opportunity and directed him to my album “October Forever” on Apple Music. It’s normally something I wouldn’t do around artists when I’mma guest. I prefer to lay back and show respect. But that was pretty cool. I asked Pusha-T about his clothing brand Play Cloths and if he was still president of G.O.O.D. Music on the set of Jadakiss’ music video “Huntin Season”. He told me the brand had actually just reached its last release and that we indeed was still El Presidente.

Big big love to Perez as well. A good friend of mine in music management that gave me the opportunity to shoot behind the scenes footage for Lil Haiti’s music video “Where The Cap At” featuring Flipp Dinero. I got so much BTS that day that I could have shot the video myself. But Nimi Hendrix was blessed with the assignment. Everything was cohesive. Lil Haiti and Flipp were extremely down to earth. They shook every single persons hand there. Humble shit. I respect that OD.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

HEARTBREAK PAPI – Get yourself a stylist. Music and entertainment are all about image. They are probably one of the most underrated crew members in a production because you don’t see them in the final product. But know their efforts are there and the difference between it looking like Fendi or Fubu.

Avoid middle men or small labels that ask for percentages without offering anything real. We live in a generation where you have a plethora of tools to promote yourself extremely well as an independent artist. Take a chance in splitting percentages with friends that are willing to add talent, marketing, or funds to your brand / product.

Always contract your videographer / director. No matter the relationship you have with a person never involve the concept of money until you have a proper document stating the terms and conditions of your transaction. You can end up in a situation where the videographer goes M.I.A. and you end up losing video footage or having to push your timeline back. Both of these pills are hard to swallow as a paying artist giving 100% to chase their dreams independently.

Start the idea of your brand as early as you start recording music. Get yourself a graphic designer to be on the team or pay one for your logo. Create quality content and sell your merch once people start believing in your brand so much they want to represent it too.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure? 

HEARTBREAK PAPI – I would say that you don’t need the big studios, the big features, or the big analogue plugins to produce good music. Start with what you’re able to afford. Find a mixing/mastering engineer and a producer. There’s a lot of them out there looking for an artist to split percentages with.

Can you share with our readers any self-care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Kindly share a story or an example for each.

HEARTBREAK PAPI – I attend classes at the only New Jersey Mayweather Boxing + Fitness gym 6 out of 7 days of the week. I usually don’t eat breakfast before class because it’s so rigorous. And whenever I do eat food it’s either some plant based smoothie or a plant based meal. I’m looking to start a few amateur bouts after a full year of training. Additionally class has turned me into a complete athlete on stage when it comes to breathing and being able to rap/annunciate/sing my words.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

HEARTBREAK PAPI

1. Don’t try to mix & master your song’s final version. There are levels to quality of music playing through different reference speakers.
2. Don’t record on too many YouTube Beats. You might run into already bought instrumentals that you can’t make money off of.
3. Build your own studio and keep your masters. Recording at other studios could end up in messy masters / percentage issues.
4. Work with other creatives. Build your ability to get on other instrumentals with other sounds and build your available catalogue with variety.
5. Educate yourself on percentages. Make sure you and your producers are splitting correctly before legal issues arise, potentially hurting the promotion of the record. Research exactly how much each person on your team deserves for the talent they offer and split.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life? 

HEARTBREAK PAPI – “No one ever really grows up, they just learn how to act in public”.

This is relevant to me in the sense that music never actually ages. Neither does the child in your heart trying to chase its dreams. The actions of people pursuing or successfully creating music doesn’t age. We put on the costumes, voice animated characters, play dress up, and record videos all to express our poetry in hopes of becoming greatness. Childhood at its finest.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

HEARTBREAK PAPI – I’m eternally grateful for Brandon Huggins of The Arsenals. He was the first person to ever believe in me and give me the ability to build a sound at no charge. We spent 1-3 days a week in his studio for 6 months working on what would eventually become my 1st album release. He helped me give the world a piece of art that made them see me for my talent and respect me. That respect helped me build relationships that turned into essential moments of growth in my music. Thank you forever

MalaCara 809 falls next in line for making the time to work with me and help me develop. Not just in sound but in quality and quantity of content. Four trips to the Dominican Republic later and we’ve created 2 albums and 7 music videos. All shot and edited by his team Public Entertainment. All still brand new and in the vault. Awaiting their perfect time for release.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂 

HEARTBREAK PAPI – I would like to open a space for people to record & a podcast for creatives. Some people can’t afford to buy music equipment and have no idea about PRO rights / Digital Rights organizations.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂

HEARTBREAK PAPI – It would be dope to have a private lunch with The Weeknd. I believe my R&B sound works cohesively with his label and that my brand would be marketable to his audience. He also has good ties with Future’s camp. Future is currently my favorite artist.

How can our readers follow you online?

HEARTBREAK PAPI on all platforms:

YouTube:

https://youtube.com/channel/UCQaFKV-Xgctm90KwLxF_MaA

Apple Music:

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/heartbreak-papi/1475665118

Spotify Music:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5RV2mTUrUCzEtnPv5Pwk61?si=eTTAfhXpT_uXC1AESbd9Eg&dl_branch=1

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/RLP9SZs6RJ7VtEkc7