Alasadir Micah Rodriguez, better known as simply Alasadir (pronounced al-uh-zay-dir), is elbowing his way into Denver's underground hip-hop scene. Interested in making music since childhood, the 22-year-old just started to take his music career seriously in the past year.
He credits the shift to "the people that came into my life and the way things were forming together. I just met a lot of people who made beats and wanted to help me create more than just music...a personification of what I want to be."
He released his latest single, "Fed Up!," on Halloween, as a teaser to his upcoming first full-length solo album.
Born and raised in Colorado and now splitting time between Colorado Springs and Denver, Alasadir is the child of two deaf parents. His father was born deaf, while his mother lost her hearing completely in one ear and is hard of hearing in her other ear as a result of spinal meningitis. But that doesn't mean his love of music doesn't run in the family.
"If anything, it made me interested in it more, because I just wanted to listen to music all the time," he says. "But they both listen to music. My dad is fully deaf, so the way he listens to music is just turning it all the way up and feeling the bass. And my mom, she can turn her hearing aid all the way up and hear a little bit of what they're saying."
His tracks are driven by lyricism and booming bass, perhaps because those are the elements of his music that his parents can enjoy.
"My mom has asked for lyrics, so I put them online, and my dad, he can feel my music," the rapper says.
Alasadir describes his music as "just my own style — heavy bass, sometimes melodic, very introspective, and psychedelic."
With trap-inspired beats and electronic vocal manipulations, it's a decidedly modern sound, but Alasadir credits old school artists as his musical heroes.
"The main rapper who influenced me to start rapping was Biggie Smalls. I just really loved listening to him. I thought his flow was the dopest flow. I still think that," Alasadir says, noting that for him it's not just about the music; it's about the whole persona. "I like Michael Jackson; I like Prince. You have to be a good performer, and they just knew how to interact with the fans and the crowd through their music."
However, Alasadir's biggest influence when it comes to music is his heritage. His mother is half German and half Native American (Pawnee and Flandreau Santee Sioux), and his father is Latino. As a kid, Alasadir learned many traditional Indigenous dances, like the hoop dance, the eagle dance and the grass dance, and is eager to continue exploring Native American traditions.
"It inspired me to be authentic to myself and just try things that nobody has ever tried before," he says of his cultural background. "There's a bunch of music in both cultures, because I'm Hispanic, and I'm also Native American. Both of those music styles are very different. The Native part is just getting in tune with yourself and trying to be as artistic as I can, as open as I can, and the Hispanic side just makes me have fun with it and not take it too seriously."
With the opening bar, "Fuck 12, fuck Trump, and fuck you if you with them," Alasadir makes his political stance clear on "Fed Up!" Released just days before the election, the track expresses Alasadir's frustrations with not just the Republican party, but the entire American political system, giving an emotionally charged voice to the political nihilism felt by many in his generation.
"I originally wanted to release something on Halloween, whether it be a tape or just a single or whatever, and "Fed up!" I recorded a long time ago," he says. "I feel like it's going to be released at a perfect time. ... I try to use whatever I can to bring knowledge not only to myself, but to the people listening."
"Fed Up!" is available now on all streaming platforms. You can also check out Tap In!, a seven-track EP that Alasadir released earlier this year with Sefh and Cozmik Sage as the collective Last Breed.