00:00Gaius is about the opportunity that conflict and change provides us.
00:05And that's what El Pleito kind of, it's meant to honor because El Pleito means conflict.
00:13And in there, you can find clarity.
00:16You can find yourself and you can find who you are at your core to refine and to kind
00:22of push you to that next level.
00:30Getting in the studio for El Pleito, it was really intentional.
00:35I went in knowing that I had some things that I wanted to say or some feelings, I think.
00:40The music for the song was there and it was calling for something deeply personal.
00:46I knew that I didn't have the words in English, so I called my cousins, who are both incredible
00:52writers and artists in their own right, Vince and Victor, and there's a tremendous amount
00:56of trust and understanding there.
00:58I was really happy that the song kind of unfolds in the way that it does.
01:03And it's the song in the end that I think holds the album together.
01:06It's the core and the soul and the theme of the album.
01:17I wanted all the smoke.
01:18I wanted because it creates color and interesting situations and circumstances in my life.
01:25And in a lot of ways, I was choosing that to my detriment.
01:28It's given me a lot of great experiences to lean into my proclivities, so to speak.
01:34It's also put me in situations where I've avoided the work that needs to be done.
01:40But in the song, I'm acknowledging that that's very much been a part of my life.
01:43And maybe I'm taking a step back to look at what that means and if it actually serves me.
01:50My errors or my mistakes follow me like my shadow.
01:59I'm shadow boxing.
02:00Here I'm acknowledging the consequences of my avoidance and that you can't escape the things
02:09you do and the choices that you make, that you have to address them and so in that there's
02:15a confrontation waiting for you.
02:23So time is disintegrating like the streets in the Gaza Strip, which is just calling attention
02:29to the times that we live in and also that life is finite and this experience in each
02:36moment is fleeting.
02:39Calling attention to my nana's house is about not recognizing things that feel familiar
02:54and like home.
02:56It's literal and symbolic to the ways that we evolve and grow and sometimes find ourselves
03:03in situations and circumstances and relationships and places with people that we live in and
03:09we never would have expected and in ways that maybe show us things about ourselves that
03:14we don't recognize or didn't expect to become good and bad.
03:18Oh man, coming to realize the line, I lost myself when I needed me most, man that's a hard one.
03:43Those lines was me realizing that I needed to take a pause and start sorting through my pain, my resentment, all of my human experience and humanity and that took some time.
04:02So yeah, I lost myself when I needed me most probably in that I didn't really pay attention, I wasn't paying attention and confronting.
04:15I was avoiding.
04:16So, la misma sangre cabrona que mi jefe, I'm like, same fucking blood as my father.
04:29There's a tremendous amount of pride and admiration in that line.
04:38In the time that I grew up, you know, this is pre-therapy, no one's talking about therapy
04:44or anything like this and where he came from, the generations before him, I know that he
04:50didn't receive the kind of love that he deserved.
04:56And so that line is speaking to him pouring into me, you know, in the ways that he should
05:08have gotten.
05:10So you know, it's a thank you.
05:14That line is a thank you.
05:15You know, I'm like, man, I'm so proud.
05:20That's speaking to, again, the sacrifice of choosing your path.
05:30It comes at the expense of a lot, comfortability, of course, ease, you know, it's going to be
05:39a challenge.
05:40There's going to be plenty of challenges that you can't, you're just not going to be able
05:43to anticipate.
05:44You're just going to have to, you'll learn, you're going to be learning it in real time
05:47as it happens.
05:49But because you want that, you know, you're choosing your path, that means you're going
05:55for yours.
05:56You know?
05:57And that's why I'm saying like, Plata y, you know, you don't like giving them both.
06:00Or Ploma, it's like money and death.
06:03It's almost at any expense that you're willing to sacrifice.
06:07Here we are trying to overcome our personal limitations and in that we sacrifice so much
06:29and we give so much, we've given so much, we've sacrificed so much, we've worked so hard.
06:37And here you are trying to tell us that now we don't belong here.
06:40People coming from all parts of the world were welcomed in and ushered in in order to work
06:46hard and to build the foundations of this country.
06:49And here we are now being told that we don't belong here.
06:53It's a reflection of the fact that laws can change, but principles don't change.
06:59What I was hoping to capture in that line is like, again, the parallel of my personal journey
07:08and the sacrifice that requires and then the universal journey that everyone takes in order
07:15to create better situations for their family and the sacrifice that that requires.
07:29I'm hoping to capture the realization of how much pride I have to represent.
07:52And that I represent something that's bigger than me.
07:55And that's where the line, I choose myself because I need me most is sort of, it kind
08:04of is meant to represent that that discovery happens in that verse, you know?
08:08And that this is sort of how I'm moving forward.
08:11I will always choose myself because I need me most kind of thing and not just myself, but
08:15us, you know?
08:16It's a collective myself and that we should choose ourselves and represent for each other
08:21and to speak up for each other and to fight for each other and one another.
08:25The song overall is the journey of choosing a path, the sacrifice that requires, feeling
08:35the weight of the sacrifice, then discovering the real motivation at the core of that and
08:43picking yourself up and doing it for a much bigger purpose.
08:47And in that purpose, finding yourself.
08:52Especially as a parent, I'll say, I don't know if you have kids, but man, it makes you
08:56appreciate it even more when there's no one reminding you.
09:00It's such a conscious effort to really like make a change to how you were taught, you know?
09:07To want to teach differently, it's a feat.
Comments