“I was born to perform”, says 22 year old singer and song writer Miguel, stating that his parents have an excess amount of footage of him singing around the house at a young age. Heavily influenced by his parent’s choice of music, Miguel’s mother (African American) introduced him to soul music. Miguel’s father, of Mexican descent, introduced him to a lot of Hip Hop and Classical Rock. Miguel stated that It is essential to be exposed to all different types of music when you are an up and coming recording artist allowing you to be more creative in the genre you are catering to. Other than music his mixed ethnicity has played a role in his life, as a youth, he was faced with a lot of issues with being half African American and Mexican since in the late 80’s and early 90′s blacks and Mexicans were always caught with inner city beef. “I was never the type to choose sides; I represented both, because that’s who I am. When you take a firm stand, people come to understand and respect you.”

So we sat down with one of my personal favorite singer/song writer who has teamed up with artists such as Musiq, Mary J. Blige, Blu and Usher to ask him a few questions.

How did you feel when you first saw yourself on Television?
I felt a sense of accomplishment, but at the same time I felt like there was still a lot more to be done because I do have a lot more goals to achieve.

So, what are some of your long term goals?
I have a lot. I want to write and direct movies, I have plans to own a t-shirt company, own a hotel on a business level, and also probably have my own art schools. I want to make my mark as an creative person, just to make an impact and inspire people. That’s my ultimate goal.

What has the music industry taught you as an entertainer?
Actually there is the mainstream market and the underground market. As for the independent industry you can do really whatever you want, its all about finding the niche and finding the market. On the other side, the mainstream market, the music aspect of the music industry got lost in the business, just became the industry. Which becomes short term investments, thus making wack music.

Who is your biggest influence musically and generally?
Musically would be James Brown, and generally, Hip Hop. I’m talking about real Hip Hop, not rap. There’s culture behind Hip Hop.

Your music is noticeably unique and unlike everything else mainstream, how would you explain that, what makes your music “Miguel’s music” ?
First of all, thank you very much. A lot of that would have to do with my intentions, I really do aspire to inspire. i really think the only way to inspire people is to give them something they never had.

Do you have any advice for upcoming artists?
Whatever you do in life make it a point to find out what you love, put aside what other people like and believe in what you do. You’ll have an direction, when you do the things you like you’ll be happy.

If you are not making music, what do you do on your spare time?
I really love to design, draw, and watch sports. Soccer and Football are my favorite sports.

Being that you are a designer and writer what was your initial reaction to seeing imflashy.com?
It looks way dope, believe me i can appreciate the aesthetics of how things look. I saw how attractive it was so I definitely had to be apart of this. I know you guys are going to do big things, big ups.

After the interview we asked Miguel what motivates him the most and he says “Passion. Passion because if you don’t have passion your end product will never be as great as you would want it to be”.

Where to contact Miguel
Official Myspace

Also listen to few tracks from his latest Mixtape “The Mischief” and popular track “Sure Thing”

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“Quickie”

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“Ooh Ahh”

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“Overload”

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Download his whole mixtape from his myspace.