In the Studio with Ant Matos
March 22, 2011
In the Studio with Ant Matos
by Jason Pollak
Anthony Matos is a 23 year old rapper currently residing in Wantagh, New York. As a younger child, Anthony grew up in the hustling and bustling city of Corona, Queens. He enjoys having fun with his friends at Loose Camp and is pouring his heart and soul into his music. Matos is also a former D-1 soccer player. He played at St. Francis College, located in Brooklyn Heights. Anthony has also earned a degree in communications.
He has combined his affluent background along with his life lessons into three extraordinary mix tapes. Matos is very lyrical and his upbringing as a child as well as his views on life can be seen throughout his songs. They are full of variety and there is something for everyone. He has taken his passion for music and deep understanding of culture and life and really combined it all together to put out something special.
Jason: When did you move out to Wantagh, Long Island? Do you remember the reason behind the move?
Ant: My parents wanted to move out to Long Island. In December 2005 we moved out there. My close friend and cousin Joey Jerez was already out there. Now he is a big part of Loose Camp and what we’re doing. I just basically picked up where I left off in Queens and took it from there.
Jason: When did you discover you had a passion for music?
Ant: When I was young my family played a lot of music around the house. My older sister was a big influence as well. She played a lot of hip-hop such as Rakim, Wu Tang and some Usher. That definitely caught my attention.
Jason: You played a lot of soccer as a kid. How did you get into that? What was it like playing soccer at the Division 1?
Ant: Well my mom is from Argentina and is half Italian, so she naturally had a passion for the sport. I started playing when I was five. I also played baseball. I just worked hard at it in practice. I played on some travel teams, good teams in high school and that eventually led to me getting a full D-1 scholarship. I played defense and went on to win a couple awards including first team honors my junior and senior year. Soccer is definitely something I love and will keep playing while I do this music thing. We will see where it goes.
Jason: What was your major in college? Which classes did you enjoy?
Ant: I graduated with a degree in communications. I really enjoyed taking philosophy. That was the first time I was introduced to those types of classes. I never got to take those classes in high school. I took way more than I was required to take. I liked economics as well.
Jason: Do you feel as though studying philosophy has helped you as a singer and songwriter?
Ant: I think it has, but at the same time it makes you feel a little crazy. You can take a look at what these philosopher’s have written, but sometimes it can become overwhelming. They can go on for pages talking about numerous things and if you miss one line you can kind of miss their whole point of view. I think balance is a major necessity to life. Therefore it’s something I use a little bit, but I don’t like to go crazy with it.
Jason: How do you balance your life now? You are now a graduate, working a job and trying to record music. How do you do it all?
Ant: At first when I graduated I didn’t have a job, so I had a lot of time on my hands to do whatever. I could go record songs all night and then have the next day free. Now I have a job from 10-6 in New York City. I go to work then make my way out to the studio in Glen Cove around 8 pm. Even though I find myself going to sleep at 2 o’clock in the morning every night, the money from my job has ultimately made my life more organized. You begin to understand you have to do it this way, so I really don’t have much of a choice.
Jason: Why is this the profession you want to get into?
Ant: I just feel like if you are going to rap or perform, you have to have certain qualities. You have to be thick skinned, have confidence in yourself and you have to be able to accept the ridicule that comes with it. I think I have those qualities and have something important to say. I also think when people listen to what you are saying, that holds a lot of value.
Jason: How did everything get started for you with the music business? What’s the story behind that?
Ant: The whole thing with putting out music and everyone being down to do this, started last January. We met up with PMS Radio and they started to promote my music. They were also nice enough to help me fund studio time. It was really cool. I got the chance to meet up with Mercedes Dukes at PMS Radio and she has become my manager. I have put out three mix tapes with them. The first one was called “Get to Know me Before I’m Famous”. The next one was called “Vs. A-tility”. It was pretty much exactly that, as I did a variety of genres of music ranging from pop to rock and hip hop. I also did some R&B and even some alternative music. The last mix tape, called “Schools Out Forever”, was really cool to do because I got to work with my in-house production.
Jason: Who worked with you on that last mix tape “Schools Out Forever”?
Ant: My boy Pete “The Force” Marchelos produced most of those tracks. He’s really talented at his craft. My boy Yalla from the Bronx also contributed some dope tracks. Another producer by the name of K.P. from Long Island also helped produce some tracks on it.
Jason: There are a lot of talented musicians from the Queens area. Do you think one day you could be one of them? Which of those people do you wish to be like the most?
Ant: Yea, I listened to a lot of Queens hip-hop growing up. There is so much diversity from the music scene that comes from there. I listened to a lot of Stack Bundles, Nas, Mobb Deep. I remember in high school when 50 Cent came out, he was huge. Jay-Z is one of those people I look up to as well. New York City in general is what I grew up in and there are just so many talented people. I just want to be someone that people can listen to, whether or not they know I’m from New York and whether or not they are from New York. It just matters that they hear what I say and think of me as a talented artist.
Jason: You’re a part of Loose Camp. Can you explain the meaning behind “Loose Camp”?
Ant: Yea, you know I say this without trying to sound like too much of a hippie, but people don’t need to be fighting in the world. We just need to live. You know, we only get to live once. That’s what we are all about. We just want to be fun and outgoing. We know that there is time to be fun and joking and also a time be serious. We just try to have a good time when the time is right and get through the tough things in life together.
Jason: You guys at Loose Camp seem fairly open to a variety of people. Is that part of the Loose Camp motto?
Ant: Yea and that goes back to what I was saying about balance. There are a lot of different people in this world and I’m just down with anyone who is trying to do what they want to do and doing it right. You have to be someone who doesn’t want to settle. If you go to school, you shouldn’t settle to get B’s just because you can. Why not learn more and read more than the person next to you if you’re there? The thing with hip-hop is that there seems to be a stigma that they are all naive, hateful and violent. With us, it’s just about having fun. If someone else is doing something that sounds good, then we wish you good luck and I hope you wish us luck as well. However, there are some people who are out there on their own agenda who can tarnish things. So, that’s what I mean by balance. You just have to be careful of who you let in your life, because one person can bring everyone down. Other than that, if you’re a cool person, then yea, we’re down with you.
Jason: Do you think having a team is an important part to the success? Is having a group behind you important?
Ant: Yea and I think the most important part is finding that team. It really isn’t about numbers, it’s about the quality of the people and what you can provide for one another. I don’t see myself as the face of anything. We are all working together and all have the chance to do well. It gives us the opportunity to all do our own thing, but remain connected. Right now my music is doing well, so that translates to everyone doing well. My cousin Joey is doing well. My producer Pete Marcheos is doing well. My other friend Eric Matusoff has been engineering for me and he’s doing well. We know who’s down and how everything is split. You need that team. You need someone there to rile you up and keep you going. It is like going to the gym. If you go with a partner your more likely to work out harder, lift more and overall get more out of what you’re doing. It’s good to have someone pushing you to go harder.
Jason: How has playing a team sport like soccer transferred over to working with a team like Loose Camp?
Ant: It’s crazy. If we are going to get a little abstract with this, it’s like Carmelo Anthony coming over from the Nuggets to The Knicks. The Denver Nuggets were his team, but it wasn’t his hometown. That’s what soccer was like. They were my team, like the Nuggets, but now I’m back home. New York was Melo’s home town and music is my “hometown”. I’m coming home to music.This is what I want to be doing. That’s what I mean. They are both great teams, this one just feels right, you know. It’s just more comfortable. It feels that much better. Music is my number one love and I couldn’t pick a better group of people to go on this adventure with. I don’t want to stop until we have the mansion and everything that comes along with it.
Jason: You seem like a very motivated individual. Do you think the drive and passion you have is an important aspect to becoming successful?
Ant: Yea I think you need those qualities in any industry. I definitely need it in music where there’s so much room for scrutiny. You can really get moved and discouraged by one poor comment. I try not to take what those people say seriously. I am a competitor and want to do well. The more music I put out, the more people take a liking to it. It’s a business and I love it. It’s always about the music first and the other side of it is to prove to people you can do it.
Jason: What do you find is the most satisfying part about making music?
Ant: People actually liking it. I was really excited that we got some great feedback from the people who have been following me. It’s especially cool because a lot of people knew me as just a person who played sports. They never knew I had this other side to me. Now my songs have been out for over a year, so it’s getting kind of crazy with people finally recognizing my talent in music. The people close to me though, knew I had been writing rhymes and songs my whole life, so they weren’t too surprised. It was still cool though that everyone was able to enjoy it.
Jason: Music seems like an industry that is full of ups and downs. How do you deal with that ever changing landscape of success and failure?
Ant: Music relates to me like sports. In sports, teams have good years and bad years. A team might win a championship or have an awful season, but either way there is going to be another season. That’s how you have to prepare yourself. You have to continue to train harder than you did the year before. Competition is always evolving, as am I, so you have to keep yourself in shape to deal with new challenges. Even if it was a successful year, you still have to adapt to the next season. You can never go back in life, so I choose not to dwell on the past, good or bad. I just try to move on to the to the next thing.
Jason: There seems to be a number of new rappers these days. My question to you is, what separates you from everyone else putting out new material? Why should I pick up my MP3 player and put on Ant Matos?
Ant: I think when you do music in general, people have a personal check list of what they want to hear from you. Everyone has their own criteria. Different people will look for different qualities. I feel like the way I am caters to a lot of people. I am very general and down to earth. I don’t mean to sound repetitive, but there is a lot of angst in the world and people just need to live. I am trying to put out music that is just easy to listen to. It’s just something that is of good quality and is done by someone who cares. I want to appeal to everyone no matter the race or class. You can be black, white, Hispanic, poor or rich. I just want to continue to put out quality music for everyone.
Jason: How do those ideals relate to your actual life?
Ant: I’m from the middle class and know of the ups and downs that come with that lifestyle. It’s full of good times and bad times. I joke around with my friends and they all call me a middle class rapper, but that’s what it is. I have some family that are completely well off and yet I have other members of my family living in shacks in the Dominican Republic. It’s just very different wherever you go. Growing up with that kind of diversity and living in Corona, I think makes me very well rounded. It gives me the ability to talk about numerous subjects.
Jason: Do you feel as though you deserve it as much as anyone else, even though you are coming from the middle class?
Ant: I feel as though times have changed. When hip-hop started it was mostly in the ghetto’s and the people that represented it, were the people who came from those places. It was people telling their story of survival and that’s what made the music such an art form and so beautiful. They really showed that hunger that one can have deep down inside of you. I don’t think you can help where you are brought into the world. I think the passion for music is more important. That’s how it is with hip-hop these days. Even if you’re not from the projects, there’s no reason that you can’t like rap. I’m not trying to be Biggie, Tupac or Jay-Z, nor I am taking anything away from them. I understand where they are coming from and I know who I am. I am just trying to tell everyone about my world. I just happened to be born where I was and people are liking my music, so I will continue to make it.
Visit Ant Matos on Twitter
and Facebook
