Old Soul Era Blends His Chicano Roots With Hip-Hop

For Anthony Morales, the beauty of music is its ability to capture a memory. The photographic power of a song often transports Morales back to spaces and moments long lost to the flow of time, and he hopes that the music he creates as Old Soul Era can do this for others. In a decade defined by technology, he just wants his listeners "to feel human."

Morales was born into a family of mariachi and norteño Mexican musicians. A young Morales tagged along to many performances, and watching his family jam on stage inadvertently fanned his spark of musical creativity. He picked up the saxophone before discovering his true love, the guitar. His guitar skills are self-taught, achieved by watching YouTube tutorials and playing by ear, mimicking fun musical licks.

Now he writes and produces music as Old Soul Era. As the name implies, Morales's music has old-school inspirations; the classic hip-hop style is sprinkled with samples from soul records and Chicano jazz influences. And his lyrics add more nostalgic antiquity, drawing from the journey of his ancestors. "I like to reflect a lot on how humanity used to be and how our ancestors used to roam the land, and metaphorically describe it in my lyrics," Morales says. "Old Soul Era, it's speaking about things we used to be and things we should implement now from our past."

He remembers hearing Chicano jazz as a child, but he didn't notice its influence on his musical taste until years later. "That's why I was so into The Jungle Book," he explains. "The cartoon one is just so full of jazz, you know? King Louie's song on that — he's just going away at the horn." He embeds ideas from Chicano culture in his music, sampling jazz and then "putting some Chicano vibes to it."

Morales also mixes Spanish into his rhymes, paying homage to his first language. He wants to create a project entirely in Spanish, but he doesn't want to force it — the music has to come to him naturally. "Some of my songs that I perform in Spanish always get the best reaction from the crowd, whenever I'm going at it in English and then boom: Trip ’em up and translate it into Spanish, or vice versa," he says.

His music also acts as a pushback against the corporate, capitalist system, he says, adding that while he is "addicted" to performing and loves creating music, it's not just about his personal enjoyment. His catchy, nostalgic beats carry a meaningful message, and he uses inspiration from the powerful ancient civilizations of the Aztecs, Olmecs and Mayans to "rediscover who we were as humans versus these programmed robots that we all might become on accident because we have to play in the system."

Morales does more than perform and create music: He also teaches beat-making and hip-hop dance at the Lakewood Cultural Center, running classes for both youth and adults. He loves introducing students to something they have not tried before, and says it is as addictive as it is rewarding.

"There have been situations where people — kids or adults — come after class and tell me what a big impact it is for them to express themselves through music," he reflects. "Language is so dead to me, which is ironic that I'm a writer, but words only mean so much. So when I see that person feeling what I feel about music, I mean, it's everything to me."

His classes attract all kinds of people. "Shout out to Linda," he chuckles as he describes a beat-making student he had whose story stuck with him. Linda, a 68-year-old white woman, didn't let the fact that she was outside of hip-hop's "typical" demographic deter her. She came to the class with determined enthusiasm: "I want to learn how to make bangers," she told him.

"She shows up in a sideways hat, a big old Space Jam T-shirt, playing the part, and then just bangs out some beats," Morales recalls. "And she kills it, and then proceeds to tell me that the reason she did it is because her son was in college in California learning music production. So she wanted to surprise him when he got back from school, like, 'Hey, look what I can make.'"
One of the core lessons Morales teaches his students is how to sample. While some musicians see sampling as stealing work, he emphasizes that using the same sound and changing it to fit a different vision is anything but. "[Artists] borrow everything," he says. "Every real artist will tell you that they drew inspiration from a different artist."

And he uses samples in his work all the time. "Even if it's a bird chirping," he says, "I can take that and just throw it in the sampler and add a bunch of effects." By the time he's done manipulating the original sound, a bird tweeting can end up sounding like a piano roll. "I think that creativity is something that you tap into — so when it's there, it's up to you to take it."

Morales is currently making headway on several new projects. An album scheduled to drop on May 29 will include different artists he's met at Mutiny Information Cafe, where Morales and other local musicians host a monthly open mic cypher event. The monthly show is a freestyle session: Morales loops and chops music live, using turntables and even grabbing a mic to throw some runs into the mix.

The open mic has led to a lot of late-night production sessions. "Every time I leave, it's like one in the morning and I'm like, 'I should probably go to bed,'" he says. "But everybody who I just watched just inspires me with their fire, and I go straight to making music."

He's also working on a project with Denver musician Burroughs. "We already have one song out together that we released as a single, called 'Rizzoto,'" Morales says. "People vibe to it. It's a fun one. It kind of bounces a lot more than my stuff does." He's keeping a third project on the down-low; all he'll say is that it's a collaboration with local musician Rozzay, or "Mr. Don't Play," as Morales calls him.

Morales believes that his years of hard work, all while staying true to himself and his music, have led him to where he is today.

"You are so devoted to your craft and putting in the time and work, the cool shows are going to come," he says. "I've gotten to perform with my favorite artist, and he came to spend the night at my house. Growing up, never would I have thought of that. Ever. This guy I grew up worshiping and idolizing, next thing you know, me and Spawn from Atmosphere are making music together. That never would have happened if I wasn't true to myself."

Follow @oldsoulera to stay updated with Morales's new releases.