Recently, researchers at Harvard discovered the gene that codes for Hip Hop. The breakthrough confirms what many heads have long suspected: if your mom and dad have swag, this greatly increases your chance of inheriting it.
And such is the case with today’s Hip Hop Pops, a Tunnel Rat cat– Rosario Macho Ortega, whose love for the outdoors and work with his prodigous son, Nahoa, proves that the rap apple doesn’t fall far from the rap tree.
We’re under quarantine, so I emailed Macho a few questions. Yes, I was wearing a mask when I sent it. No, I wasn’t wearing any pants. Yes, I was wearing shorts. No, they weren’t Dockers.
1. What’s your first hip hop memory?
I grew up in Boston in a neighborhood called Mission Park. It was essentially a nicer version of the projects because although it was subsidized housing / Section 8 it was a townhome community. (In Boston, when a hospital or university wants to develop land the city requires them to also create affordable housing… just an interesting fact).
In our neighborhood we had an annual block party, and people of all ages would go up and perform. When I was about 6 or 7 years old I heard a guy named “Ant” get on the microphone and just totally murder it. That was the first time I had really seen Hip Hop live and in-person in a way that really made a lasting impression on me.
2. Why did you decide to rhyme?
Those block parties had lots of memorable moments and I remember also hearing La Di Da Di for the first time when I was about 9 years old.
I had the song in my head and just memorized it from the live show. I couldn’t stop repeating the lyrics. It felt so comfortable and natural to me.
Somewhere around that same time, like 1985-1986, I also remember visiting my cousin and seeing some break dancers dance to “Jam On It.” The first time I heard that and saw them spinning on the cardboard boxes I was buggin.
Those were just 2 elements of Hip Hop culture but I wasn’t aware it was even a culture, it was just there all around me. Within at least one year I submitted my name for that local block party and did my first performance.
After that man the rest is history. I formed a group with my sister Elsie and we became New Breed. This is us in the mid 90’s
We later moved to Los Angeles to join the Tunnel Rats and created some pretty cool music for the next 10-12 years individually and collectively.
Here are a couple of classic moments rocking live
I made my last record called “Remember” in 2011 then started my business shortly thereafter and really focused on entrepreneurship and family.
3. Who’s your favorite TV dad?
It’s been a while since I’ve watched any TV shows with a traditional dad… and the most common choice has been eliminated from the running so if I have to think of another one I guess it would be Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince. Off screen I had tons of great fatherly examples in my real life. That’s one of the reasons why I always loved the idea of marriage and family. Of course I saw my share of broken families but I had great mentors who had healthy relationships and I aspired to have that in my life as well.
4. What’s your favorite family memory as a kid?
I used to love when my dad would take us all to the lake. We lived in the city and we didn’t really get a chance to be around nature too much. We would spend the whole day out there playing frisbee, jumping in the water and just hanging out. It was a very rare occasion but a very unique environment compared to where I grew up. We had a lot of challenges growing up but I always remember those specific days just being a ton of fun.
5. Tell us about your family: names, ages, interests.
I’m Macho ( real name Rosario)
I’m 43 years old.
I own a cleaning agency. And in my free time I like to go camping, hiking, bike riding, I also like to catch a good matinee and watch live music preferably straight-ahead jazz or Latin jazz if possible.
My wife is Jamie. She has a PhD in natural medicine. She owns Oasis Healing Arts in Whittier.
She’s been practicing for about 17 years and she was my original inspiration for starting my own business and being an entrepreneur. She grew up in Hawaii so naturally she loves the beach but she likes to head out to the trails and go camping with us as well. We have been married 18 years. She also homeschools our boys since she’s the smart one 🙂
My oldest son is Nahoa.
He’s 12 years old. He’s a natural talent. Singer-songwriter emcee, piano player, actor.
But when he’s not performing he’s truly a bookworm and a research nerd. The kind of kid that starts every sentence with “Did you know…” He reads anything and everything from apologetics to comics.
My youngest is Keoni. He’s 8 years old. He is a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky kid full of joy and passion. We call him “Tank” sometimes because he’s tough and unstoppable lol. He’s got a talent for cooking and hospitality, which is such a cool expression of his fiery energy. Both of my boys are having a great time with our beagle puppy, Zoe, that we just brought into the family in June. They are really raising and training her. They take that responsibility seriously and they do a great job.
Keoni is also taking up the drums.
6. What’s a movie or TV series you guys like watching together?
We like to do a lot of superhero movies. We’ve gone through the whole Marvel universe and all the DC movies as well. Jamie and I also loved the series “Homeland” and “Alone.”
7.Tell us about your passion for the outdoors. Where did it come from? Why lean into it with the family?
Well I guess based on my previous answer I got a tiny glimpse of it as a kid when my dad would take us to the lake. But for the most part I’m a city boy all the way. My brother-in-law invited us out to a camping trip about 6 years ago. It was your typical car camping but once I was out there in the woods something just clicked and as I explored all of the possibilities and talked to my brother-in-law about some of his other trips I really caught the bug. Soon thereafter we went on a backpacking trip and from that point on it was almost always wilderness camping far removed from civilization. We took the kids with us all the time, we did lots of hikes in between for conditioning and preparation and my boys have gone on 3-8 mile backpacking wilderness camping trips. You know the kind of camping where there’s no toilets, no running water, everything you pack in you have to pack out and leave no trace behind. There’s something really dope about being 10,000 ft above sea level in the middle of the forest with nobody around and as long as you come prepared it can be a great experience. Recently me and a couple of friends hiked the San Gorgonio mountains. It’s the highest peak in southern California at 11,500 ft.
We probably go on maybe six camping trips a year sometimes more and it’s a special time I get to spend with the family. Once this puppy grows up we can add her to the trail with us and she can really become part of the crew.
8. What’s a favorite camping destination?
So far San Gorgonio has been the best for me as far as personal accomplishment. But in terms of family destinations I love going to Big Bear with family. We have a cabin there but we also go camping and it’s literally a second home.
9. Tell us about your son’s music.
Yea man… Nahoa Life (his real middle name) Nahoa means “bold & brave” in Hawaiian.
Like I said before he is a natural talent. We’ve always had a piano in the house and from the time he could sit on the bench he would sit down at the piano and just start playing melodies and singing and creating since he was probably 3 years old. He watched me rap and write when he was younger and he used to spit some funnystyles freestyles as a kid (before he became self aware)
Obviously it wasn’t genius prodigy musicianship but I could tell that it was in his blood. You know I learned there’s a scripture that says “train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” To me this means that it’s my job to observe my children’s inclinations and the things that they lean into naturally. As a father I’m supposed to nurture, guide, teach and encourage those things… so that’s what I’ve been working on with him.
He is so comfortable and natural and professional in the studio it’s pretty crazy people trip out when they’re working with him. I am constantly getting feedback and comments that there’s no way he could write his own stuff just based on his age, but Nahoa is an exceptionally gifted writer. Of course as his father and someone who has written music all my life I’m involved in the process and I write with him but he’s got a lot to say and he’s only getting started.
Being a musician I honestly had mixed feelings about him aspiring to become a professional musician simply because I personally knew the cost and the challenge associated with that. We have lots of good honest discussions within our family and he’s a very smart boy. He’s able to make his own wise decisions so as his talent grew and as his love for music and performance grew, one day when he was just about to be 11 he told me that he wanted to really start pursuing music more seriously and entering contests and that whole world. So within a few months we entered a national singing competition and he won. He was offered a horrible six year 360 deal much like the ones people would get if they win The Voice so I straight-up had to turn it down. We decided from that point that I would personally produce and develop him and that’s when we started writing and recording music.
A little less than a year later in April of 2020 we released his first 3 singles along with music videos and will be releasing new music all throughout the rest of this year and next year on a very regular basis along with music videos.
He’s got an extremely bright future ahead of him. I can very clearly envision him as a mega super star. I really think that he has the potential to affect change in the world by way of people’s hearts and minds through his music. The readers can check him out for themselves and see whether or not they agree.
All of his videos are on the website
10. What advice do you have for parents looking to nurture their kids artistic pursuits?
Open honest loving conversation is key. Teaching your children who have musical or entertainment-related aspirations to think for themselves and set their own goals. I think creating their own metrics for success is in my opinion very important. Of course if you’re like me and you have experience with the industry then you should help to set realistic expectations and time frames, but as a parent I try to simply remind Nahoa of his own goals and desires and say if you want to reach this goal within this timeframe then this is what is required… so you decide if you want to watch that next TV show or if you want to go upstairs and practice the piano or write a new song or whatever.
When they see what they can accomplish with your help then they will start to take on more independent responsibility. If you are doing everything for them then I don’t see how it can be a sustainable path to success.
All that being said however, learning an instrument in our house is a non-negotiable. Becoming a mega Superstar is not the goal. Discipline, focus, creativity and expression can all be developed as one learns an instrument. So even when they are being kids and they don’t want to practice… that’s when I will step in and say there’s no choice in the matter. But in our house we don’t force classical music or even traditional theory. During their lessons they can learn to play the music they love. If they’re doing that consistently throughout their entire childhood then they will learn how to read and write music in the process even if it takes longer.
11. Where can we stay plugged into the fam?
Our IGs are
Peep our Hip Hop Pops interviews with Apakalips, Propaganda, Judah 1, Red Cloud, Elias, Shames Worthy, Bess Kepp, Legal Alien and Triune.