Vega DeSanto Music

Ambient Hip Hop. Mellow rap. Freestyle experimental urban pop… The music of

Vega Desanto is all of those and none of those at the same time. He’s a self

taught composer, lyricist, producer and performer who proudly rejects any

traditional categorization of his music.

“I prefer to be formless, like water,” Vega says. “I once heard a quote from

Bruce Lee that said ‘If you put water in a vase, it becomes the vase,’ so put me

in any music genre, and I become the genre, like water.”

Much like his genre-melding yet fluid ‘formless’ musical creations, Vega

Desanto as an artist is a bit of an enigma. Music – for Vega – comes to his mind

in mental waves and flashes of colors, shapes and patterns. Whether he has a

mild form of the fascinatingly weird disorder known as synesthesia or it’s just

the way his musical brain works – whatever the source of his genius, it’s a

mesmerizing mix of electronica, hip hop rhythms, other-worldly vocals and

street-style rhyming that he creates.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Vega took music lessons from a former

James Brown guitarist, and was surrounded by 1950s pop and 70s reggae played by

his music-loving parents. They bought Vega and his brother a full set-up of

instruments as they were growing up, but while his mother hoped he’d learn to

play classic pop songs, Vega instead wanted to bring to life the music he heard

in his head.

“When I first started making music, I was excited and anxious – I wanted to

create more than I wanted food,” he says. “Creating music keeps me alive.”

A self-described loner and artsy brooding character as a teen, Vega’s life

revolved around his Walkman and a ton of cds in his book bag. He wrote lyrics as

a child, but it was a friend in high school that spurred him on to compete in

rap battles – he would battle rappers and spoken-word artists from other

neighborhoods, then go home and write more scathing rhymes to be ready for the

next day’s battle. His musical passion turned serious as he started a group

called Gen X. They played some shows and had a great time, but massive egos and

internal strife tore the group apart.

Vega’s rap-battle talent and reputation quickly exceeded his competition, so

he decided to ratchet his music career up another level with a music manager.

He’d go on to perform in small New York City venues, paying his music dues (as

they call it) and learning the ropes of the music business and performing. Vega

used this time to begin reinventing himself as an artist and knew that he was

going to start making his own rules for his music and career.

Vega came out of his reinvention musically reborn, focusing intently on the

visual aspect of his music, and the mystery.

“This is music I can see,” he says. “The art is a response to my existence.”

The songs that now exist because of Vega’s musical vision are part of a

collection of Hip Hop-styled tunes that compose the still-in-the-works Voix de

Ville album. From the possession-glorifying excesses found in “Toys” to the

free-flowing lyricism of “Boy inna Bubble” to the macabre Crypt Keeper-style

story telling in “Die,” Voix de Ville is shaping up to be a debut album classic,

regardless of what music genre it’s eventually labeled under, and while Vega

toils away in his ‘music scientist’ laboratory finishing up his first of many

masterpieces, he speaks passionately – almost poetically – about the recording

process and the wonders found within a creative artist’s soul.

“The way the beats drop, the natural melody of a phrase, and the certain

combination of instruments…those musical ‘goose bump’ moments come seemingly out

of nowhere. When it all kicks in – when it falls into place… the beat’s

bumpin’and the melody’s glidin’ and I come in with the lyrics, it’s truly

magical. I live for moments like that.”