Jblaze Interviews El Soly on Ministry, Music & More. This Is About More Than Music!
@JBLAZE305:
First, thank you for taking the time to do the interview. Soly you have been doing music for a few years and out of Milwaukee. I ask myself, how did you go from the sunny island of Puerto Rico to end up there?
@ElSoly:
Long story… After we finished my first album ‘Letra con Sentido’, my family and I struggled financially. I lost my car and the roof of our house literally collapsed on top of our dinner table during one of our last dinners together as a family. During that time, I did several collabs with other friends and ministries. One of them was Capestany, he invited me to Minnesota for his CD release party. I decided to talk to him and see if there was any chance for me to stay there and make money. Keep in mind that my album was in my suitcase along with my pre-paid phone. In my mind I was only going to stay for a few months until I made enough money to duplicate the albums and help my mom. At the same time I had been talking to this girl over the phone for a few months now. I had never seen her before but I did know she was from Milwaukee, not too far from Minnesota. But funny as it looks, I only had my mind on one thing and it was to duplicate that CD. That is the short version of how I got here…
@JBLAZE305:
When did you start doing music on a more serious note as far as gospel?
@ElSoly:
A friend of mine was at my house one day and I was showing him some of my lyrics. He pointed out one song in particular, “Alabale”. He was like, “bro do this one! This is different.” but you know back then urban music wasn’t what it is today. It was considered evil music, blah, blah… so neither my church nor my family supported this music at all. Anyways, I made up my mind and went to the studio to make it happen. One day, this guy came to me and told me, “that song is different. I like it.” I want to put it on the CD that I’m putting together and make a video. I was like… “For real?” and when the song came out I realized this was no game. I was born to do this.
@JBLAZE305:
Do you consider yourself an artist and if so, what category do you fall under Hip Hop, Reggaeton or do you rather have no official title?
@ElSoly:
There are so many artists out there that I respect and admire, actually there are too many of them. I don’t think or look at myself as an artist, even when that’s the description that shows on my social media pages. I think of myself more as a human with a commission in this earth and it’s not to entertain.
@JBLAZE305:
Soly, you’re known for doing things a little different and being very direct with your messages. Recently you released a mixtape called ‘Not For Sale”, why such a title and was there a reason behind it?
@ElSoly:
Even though it’s obvious that you need to pay for whatever it is you want; for me it’s hard to believe that there are people in this world without essential things just because they don’t have money. When we (Capestany and I) went to El Salvador it was crazy. We had hundreds of CD’s and people wouldn’t buy them because there wasn’t any money. No 10 dollars, no 5… No money at all but they came to Christ that day and they were really excited about us being there for free. I remember this pastor said “I’m going to buy all your CD’s to give them away. I’ll pay full price, I want to be a blessing to you both.” So there’s when ‘Not For Sale’ got me. It’s just music for free. Every two years we try to do it better and better just to spread the gospel into places where other people just won’t go.
@JBLAZE305:
In our conversations, real ministry in artist today is something we talk about. What ministry do you attend and do beyond music in your community?
@ElSoly:
So many things are happening right now. God spoke to me about something not too long ago and he was very specific about it. We are moving forward to expand the kingdom no matter where we are so with that being said, we are going to start here in Milwaukee next year but our vision is to reach every city and country. Hopefully once it starts, more and more people get involved to promote Jesus Christ. I know I didn’t give you the answer that you are looking for but trust me, this is big.
