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Anthony Ramos · On with Mario Interviews

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  Speaker 1: You're on with mario lopez what's up bro mario lopez
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  Speaker 1: joining me right now actor and grammy winning singer anthony
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  Speaker 1: ramos what's going on anthony.
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  Speaker 2: What's up mario good to get to meet you here
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  Speaker 2: on zoom and uh good to see you man.
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  Speaker 1: Good to see you too man i know i've been
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  Speaker 1: uh i've been a fan of yours for a minute
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  Speaker 1: man i'm glad we finally got to uh connect you've
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  Speaker 1: been doing some some great stuff out there congratulations i
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  Speaker 1: know you just dropped a brand new song called wasn't
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  Speaker 1: even looking salsa vibes i'm digging it um yeah tell
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  Speaker 1: me about this one what inspired this i mean this.
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  Speaker 2: Whole you know this whole project man you know i'm
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  Speaker 2: working on a full album and the whole album was
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  Speaker 2: uh It was a gift from heaven, bro.
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  Speaker 3: I promise you.
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  Speaker 2: Like, you know, I didn't really know where I kind
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  Speaker 2: of wanted to go with music. And I just, and Sergio,
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  Speaker 2: I met Sergio George at Mark Anthony's wedding and Mark
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  Speaker 2: connected us.
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  Speaker 3: And then I sent Sergio a pop song that I
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  Speaker 3: wrote with Nasri. And a friend of mine, Will Wells,
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  Speaker 3: another guy named Bobby, Bobby Love Nasri, who was the
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  Speaker 3: lead singer of Magic, basically sent him the song. It
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  Speaker 3: was in English.
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  Speaker 2: He was like, yo, I think this could be a salsa.
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  Speaker 2: We were like, oh my gosh, that's crazy. He produced
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  Speaker 2: it in two weeks, put it on his album. The
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  Speaker 2: song kind of went viral on TikTok. And he was like,
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  Speaker 2: I think we have something here. And I've always loved
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  Speaker 2: Southside music, but English is my first language, man. So
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  Speaker 2: I just never thought I could do Southside music. But
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  Speaker 2: when Sergio kind of came up to me, he was like,
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  Speaker 2: I think we should make an album.
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  Speaker 3: And I was like, for real?
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  Speaker 2: And I was like, well, if we do it, I'd
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  Speaker 2: love to do it in English because I want to
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  Speaker 2: write every song. And he was like, you sure? And
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  Speaker 2: I was like, I'm positive.
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  Speaker 3: He's like, why? I was like, because no one's ever
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  Speaker 3: done it. No one's ever done a full album before.
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  Speaker 2: Salsa music in english and he was like let's go
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  Speaker 2: and that's you know and that's where this teamed up
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  Speaker 2: with my boy johnny the voice karen rodriguez amazing writers
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  Speaker 2: and as we and we put this album together pretty
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  Speaker 2: fast man like three.
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  Speaker 1: Months wow man that's cool i'm looking forward to checking
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  Speaker 1: it out yeah i'm trying to think i don't think
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  Speaker 1: i've ever heard a salsa song in english that's oh
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  Speaker 1: that's cool man i want to check it out you
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  Speaker 1: mentioned mark anthony obviously very familiar what uh what did
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  Speaker 1: uh what did he have to say about your foray
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  Speaker 1: dipping into salsa Any advice?
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  Speaker 3: I think Mark was excited, man.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it kind of started, I was at one
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  Speaker 2: of Mark's shows in Atlantic City and he gave me
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  Speaker 2: a huge shout out in front of the whole crowd,
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  Speaker 2: which was crazy.
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  Speaker 3: He kind of put me on blast. I got to
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  Speaker 3: get that video.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I got to pull that video out. It was crazy.
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  Speaker 2: My mom was standing next to me and he just
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  Speaker 2: basically was like, spoke to the whole audience. He's like, yo,
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  Speaker 2: Anthony Ramos is next. Gave me a huge shout out
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  Speaker 2: and just showed me so much love in front of
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  Speaker 2: a crowd of like 8,000 people, whatever it was, at
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  Speaker 2: this arena. He didn't have to do that. And I
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  Speaker 2: think that was like the first time I was like, wow,
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  Speaker 2: that's crazy. I got the blue check, the blessing from
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  Speaker 2: the goat, you know, and.
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  Speaker 3: Then everything kind of started happening after that.
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  Speaker 1: That's very cool. That's very cool of them too. I
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  Speaker 1: know a few months ago you, you released another song
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  Speaker 1: called New York City. Yeah. This is like a new
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  Speaker 1: era for you, right? I love these vibes right here.
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  Speaker 1: Is there going to be like a full album on
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  Speaker 1: the way or?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, man. I mean, it's a full album, dude.
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  Speaker 2: Like, you know, we're just shooting videos and we, Matt,
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  Speaker 2: all the tracks are almost mastered and, it's just been
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  Speaker 2: so much fun, man. Like I, you know, I, I,
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  Speaker 2: I'm really excited that I get to do this music
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  Speaker 2: that has been so ingrained in my life, in my,
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  Speaker 2: in me, you know, I've, I've, I grew up listening
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  Speaker 2: to side by side music and, you know, again, I
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  Speaker 2: just never thought I could do it. I mean, I
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  Speaker 2: could sing in Spanish, I do songs in Spanish, but
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  Speaker 2: how I express myself the best is in English. And
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  Speaker 2: I just was like, I guess, you know, You know,
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  Speaker 2: a one-off is cool, but how could I possibly go
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  Speaker 2: into singing salsa music? And this just, I feel like
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  Speaker 2: in music, there are no rules anymore, man. And it's just,
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  Speaker 2: we stay true to the genre and, you know, we're
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  Speaker 2: still doing soneos and everything, but we're using pop formulas
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  Speaker 2: while writing the song.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: And Sergio stayed true to the genre too.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he's probably one of the greatest, if not
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  Speaker 2: the greatest salsa producer of all time, man.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: It just, it feels like a perfect combination of all
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  Speaker 2: the things that I love the most musically being able
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  Speaker 2: to mesh into one, like the melodies of like Temptations
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  Speaker 2: and group vocals and backgrounds mixed with like Fania vibes and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, La India and Celia Cruz and Tito Puente and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, all the inspirations from all these different genres
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  Speaker 2: of music.
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  Speaker 1: That's great, man.
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  Speaker 3: That's great.
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  Speaker 1: And killing it on many fronts too. As far as
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  Speaker 1: acting too, I know you got a new film on
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  Speaker 1: the way called Love Language. with Chloe Grace Mraz. That's
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  Speaker 1: a rom-com, right? Tell me about that one.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's fun.
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  Speaker 2: It's a fun movie about this woman. She starts writing
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  Speaker 2: wedding vows for other people when she gets caught in
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  Speaker 2: this situation where she's like writing vows for, uh, for, uh,
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  Speaker 2: she gets hired to write a vow for someone else.
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  Speaker 2: And then next thing you know, she's like, doesn't know
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  Speaker 2: who the husband is, finds out it's like someone she
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  Speaker 2: loved from back in the day. And then it's kind
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  Speaker 2: of like my characters, like the dude that's like really
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  Speaker 2: loves her and is, uh, is pretty, is like showing
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  Speaker 2: up for her.
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  Speaker 3: And, uh, And she's caught in this situation where she's
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  Speaker 3: got these two guys she really likes.
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  Speaker 2: And now she's stuck writing vows for this couple who
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  Speaker 2: basically the guy that she was in love with before,
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  Speaker 2: she's writing vows for them. But then she has this
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  Speaker 2: other guy that she likes, but still in love with
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  Speaker 2: that one. So she's kind of grappling with that. And
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  Speaker 2: it's a cool journey beginning to end to just see
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  Speaker 2: how the story unfolds and to see how these characters
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  Speaker 2: kind of come to life.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, very rom-com. And another one as well called Kate
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  Speaker 1: Might Die. That's a fun title with Awkwafina, Ken Jeong.
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  Speaker 1: That's more of a dark comedy, right?
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  Speaker 2: It's definitely a darker comedy for sure. And yeah, that
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  Speaker 2: one was really fun, man. I mean, our director, Mercedes,
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  Speaker 2: she's so... some of these shots were so creative and
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  Speaker 2: just so like out of the box left field. Um,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, this was based, uh, actually based on
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  Speaker 2: a book, uh, a real life story that the, the
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  Speaker 2: name is slipping my mind right now, but, uh, but
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  Speaker 2: it was an, an, an, an awesome, awesome story, man,
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  Speaker 2: like a true story, redemption story. Um, this, this woman who's, who's, she's, she's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, she's sick and, and just her journey with
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  Speaker 2: that and her dealing with her husband, who's, struggling with
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  Speaker 2: his own personal things and her dealing with her family.
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  Speaker 2: And how do I tell them? How do I explain
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  Speaker 2: to them what's going on with me without them worrying
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  Speaker 2: about me? And there's these fantastical elements within the film.
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  Speaker 2: And she was able to do these practical effects on
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  Speaker 2: a movie that was independent, which was incredible. um and
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  Speaker 2: uh just i think mercedes is a real visionary and
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  Speaker 2: nora you know aquafina um this is one of the
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  Speaker 2: sickest performances i've ever seen from her okay you just
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  Speaker 2: see all this range from her man from comedy to
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  Speaker 2: drama and So I'm excited to see I'm excited for
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  Speaker 2: people to see her in this light, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And I saw you on stage in both in the
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  Speaker 1: Heights and Hamilton back in the stage. So clearly you've
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  Speaker 1: got did you already have a relationship with Lin-Manuel or
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  Speaker 1: did you become friends after you got cast?
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  Speaker 3: No, I mean, me and Lin, like, you know, Lin
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  Speaker 3: and I. So, you know, I saw In the Heights
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  Speaker 3: back in when they were about to close.
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  Speaker 2: I was like still in college and it was like
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  Speaker 2: the one show that, you know, you know, there's like
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  Speaker 2: two and a half shows in musical theater for Latinos.
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  Speaker 2: It's like West Side Story, Man of La Mancha, barely
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  Speaker 2: kind of.
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  Speaker 3: And then In the Heights.
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  Speaker 2: And you're just like, you know, In the Heights just
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  Speaker 2: kind of was tough for me in these auditions. And
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  Speaker 2: it was really hard for me to to book roles there. Um,
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  Speaker 2: that's why I learned how to dance so I can
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  Speaker 2: be in the ensemble. I was like, well, if they
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  Speaker 2: see I can dance, then they'll see I can sing.
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  Speaker 2: And then hopefully maybe they'll be like, Oh, this guy
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  Speaker 2: can actually play a role. Let's give him some lines
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  Speaker 2: to read. Let's see if he can act, you know? And, and, uh,
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  Speaker 2: so I was just doing everything I could to just
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  Speaker 2: get cast in anything. And, um, and that's how I
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  Speaker 2: got Hamilton. It was an open audition. I had just
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  Speaker 2: come back from a cruise ship. I was singing on
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  Speaker 2: a cruise ship doing a Saturday night fever, the musical.
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  Speaker 3: Playing double J bro. And then like, I just basically
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  Speaker 3: like pulled up and I'm like, Hey, you know, I'm
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  Speaker 3: in New York.
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  Speaker 2: I know you guys don't know me, but I'm just
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  Speaker 2: going to sing my little song and I'm going to
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  Speaker 2: be out. And I sang Ain't Too Proud to Beg
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  Speaker 2: from The Temptations and the cast and director's like, okay,
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  Speaker 2: great job. And I leave. And I was doing a
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  Speaker 2: show at Radio City, music call that would eventually get canceled.
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  Speaker 3: But apparently they just hit me back.
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  Speaker 2: They're like, we want you to audition for this thing
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  Speaker 2: called Hamilton's Mixtape. And Lynn and I didn't know each other.
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  Speaker 2: We hadn't met yet. And I did four rounds of auditions.
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  Speaker 2: And then finally in the last round, I left and
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  Speaker 2: they said, yeah, we'll call you. I go to rehearsal
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  Speaker 2: for the other show at Radio City. And they just
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  Speaker 2: have a sign, basically everybody don't sign in, come up
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  Speaker 2: to the large rehearsal hall. bro and we go upstairs
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  Speaker 2: and they're just like 77 people laid off shows canceled
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  Speaker 2: i was like dang i was like really relying on
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  Speaker 2: that job to like pay rent for the next six
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  Speaker 2: months and uh but i get a call like bro
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  Speaker 2: i had to be like three hours later as we're
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  Speaker 2: like partying in the girls dressing room everybody's sad and
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  Speaker 2: just like having the last party of you know the
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  Speaker 2: season and they're and uh i i go over to
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  Speaker 2: the guy's dressing room and i pick up this call
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  Speaker 2: and they're like yo we heard about the show heart
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  Speaker 2: and lights that was the name of the show and
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  Speaker 2: uh we want to cast you a hamilton's mixtape and
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  Speaker 2: that's how that's how me and lynn really got together
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  Speaker 2: and acquainted and yeah so i got fired at like
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  Speaker 2: 1 p.m and got a job at four that changed.
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  Speaker 1: My life damn that's you can't beat that that's some
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  Speaker 1: good time bugged out bro yeah talk about closing doors
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  Speaker 1: another one's opening man um and tell me about this
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  Speaker 1: residency in new york you got.
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  Speaker 2: So i'm doing a residency, man, at New Blue. The
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  Speaker 2: tickets will go on sale tomorrow. I'm so excited, man.
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  Speaker 3: I've been working up to this. Bobby Allende, who was
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  Speaker 3: a legendary.
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  Speaker 2: Musical director and producer, is going to be the musical
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  Speaker 2: director of the show. We have an amazing band, anywhere
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  Speaker 2: between 10 to 12 pieces, a 12-piece band. This venue
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  Speaker 2: is really amazing. I've been to a couple gigs there,
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  Speaker 2: and it was just perfect.
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  Speaker 3: We start November 25th. And that's our first show.
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  Speaker 2: And then we do every Wednesday after that, three Wednesdays
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  Speaker 2: after that.
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  Speaker 3: Nice.
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  Speaker 2: And dude, I'm just, I just like, I haven't performed live.
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  Speaker 2: I went on tour in 2019 and, you know, I was,
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  Speaker 2: I was signed to a major label. We, we parted
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  Speaker 2: ways like probably a year ago and I just been
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  Speaker 2: independent since. It's my first independent album, my first independent project.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm just so excited, man. I've just, I've just
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  Speaker 2: experienced this freedom and I had a, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: had a good time. being on a label and I
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  Speaker 2: learned a lot and made a lot of great connections,
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  Speaker 2: but like, there's this freedom that I have that I
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  Speaker 2: just didn't have before. And this level of like, you just,
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  Speaker 2: you put out a song whenever you feel like it,
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  Speaker 2: you do a video whenever you feel like it, you know.
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  Speaker 3: What I'm saying? You do a residency whenever you feel
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  Speaker 3: like it.
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  Speaker 2: So now it's, we're about to start, we're gonna start
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  Speaker 2: rehearsals in November.
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  Speaker 3: I got a few performances coming up.
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  Speaker 2: Even before that, I'm doing a few things and it's
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  Speaker 2: really ramping.
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  Speaker 3: Up, man.
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  Speaker 2: Like, you know, music has always been my dream. Music's
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  Speaker 2: always been my love, my passion. It's always been the
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  Speaker 2: thing I wanted to do in life more than anything.
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  Speaker 2: And I think now, you know, having been about eight
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  Speaker 2: years in this consistent industry, alongside doing acting, but, you know,
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  Speaker 2: consistently writing songs and getting after it. Like I'm starting
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  Speaker 2: to see the fruits of those eight years kind of,
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  Speaker 2: you know, come to life and come to fruition.
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  Speaker 1: Good for you. Where are you from originally?
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  Speaker 3: I'm from New York, man. I grew up in Bushwick,
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  Speaker 3: in Brooklyn. Okay. So you're native. You're native.
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  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a native, man. You know what I'm saying? I'm
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  Speaker 3: from here, man. Puerto Rican? I'm Puerto Rican, yeah. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Good, man. Good. Hey, well, I'm sure the parents are proud, man.
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  Speaker 3: Congratulations.
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  Speaker 1: Congratulations. on uh everything and listen everyone please be sure
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  Speaker 1: to check out anthony's new single wasn't even looking right
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  Speaker 1: now on iheart radio or wherever you stream your music
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  Speaker 1: anthony thanks for checking in man.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you mario thanks for having me bro this means
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  Speaker 2: a lot real honor bro.
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  Speaker 1: You got it brother all right hopefully we'll see you
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  Speaker 1: in uh new york one of.
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  Speaker 3: These days for sure man all right
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  Speaker 1: Take care brother with mario lopez