Today we’d like to introduce you to Wilfredo Montalvo.
Hi Wilfredo, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I come from a Puerto Rican family of eight. Out of my six siblings, 5 boys and 1 girl, I’m what is considered the middle child. my four older brothers are 7-8 years older and my sister is 7 years younger. I was born December 7, 1988, in Fort Lauderdale, but no more than a year after my birth we moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. In those 10 years that we lived in Lynn, I was exposed to the underbelly of life. My parents tried their best to shelter us from the coldness of the streets, but the city already came with a reputation as the “city of sin” due to the violence, crime, and the variety of vices inundating the city. Those years are mostly a blur in my memory, but I remember meeting my first love, music. Growing up I was always with my cousins, especially Raymond Javier Viera learning life lessons listening to a diversity of storytellers like our heritage from Frankie Ruiz and Hector Lavoe through Salsa. Learned about love and heartbreak through Latin Freestyle and R&B, but what truly captivated my mind was Hip Hop, in particular the art of rapping, lyricism.
Around the age of nine, I remember our family packing up and moving to Orlando, Florida due to the corrupting influence the city was having on my family. Years later I asked my mother about the move and she said “If I hadn’t moved my siblings would’ve been dead or in jail.” Orlando was almost a culture shock and away from my cousins, my relationship with music deepened. For the next few years, I just listened and studied the artist that piqued my interest, another branch of genre in the music tree would be introduced, reggeaton and the desire want to make music not just listen to it bubbled over around the time I was going to Edgewater High School with the encouragement of my cousin Raymond I began to write songs. I was a horrible student, I loved learning, just not the system. I recall not taking education seriously and just spending my days writing songs and drawing if I was in class, yet most of the time I was skipping. My ill-considered decisions would eventually catch up with me and I would drop out of High School and work the next six years in construction.
In those years I plunged in deep in trying to be a reggeaton rapper. I got together with friends and my brother and started a collective group called “Los Dementes” and began to write and record songs. In time we began to land performances in most of the Spanish nightclubs in Orlando and a few festivals: Calle Orange in downtown Orlando and Calle 8 in Miami.
From 2006 to 2010, I felt lost at this point of my life, the feeling of dissatisfaction was growing like cancer. I left the group and moved to Lynn, Massachusetts. In the four months living in Lynn, I went from rapping on the corner of Henry Ave. and recording in my cousin Raymond’s closet to working with a team at a professional studio and generating enough buzz in the city to start doing shows. Yet the void felt like it was growing deeper, and I began to rely more on my vices to numb the feeling of depression and longing.
I moved back to Orlando after living in Lynn for four months cause I was seeking to fill the void that I was feeling. One day at a construction site one of my brothers asked me what I thought about God and heaven, I brushed it off cause though I was raised partially in church I didn’t know what I believed, but those questions sparked an interest to seek answers for myself and for the first time I felt a sense of peace. I began to study voraciously The Bible and history exciting interest for education and bettering myself. I went back and got my G.E.D. and enrolled in valencia community college in the EMT program with the end goal to be a firefighter. A month before starting the EMT course, I was moved to take a leap of faith to study theology at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. I became the second in the family to attain an undergraduate degree which wasn’t easy at all, seeing I had no guide in the realm of academia. At this time I stopped making music for 8 years.
After graduating in 2018, I worked as a student recruiter for the University for almost a year until I got the news that my mother Rosa M. Flores was battling cancer for a second time. In March of 2019, I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to be close to my mother as she went through the treatments. It was in Utah that I released my first musical project “Story of Redemption.” As my mother was recovering I was hired to be a Youth Pastor in California and took another leap of faith moved to the San Fernando Valley area in December of 2019. It was extremely interesting being a pastor amid a pandemic and though it seemed like things couldn’t get worst, I got the news that cancer aggressively came back. I moved back to Utah end of December 2020 and was with my siblings at our mother’s side until she took her last breath on January 26, 2021.
This loss completely turned my world on its axis. I never intended on moving back to Orlando, but home was calling. As I was making the arrangements to move back, a long time friend Eric Camarillo the CEO of S.A.L.T Outreach, a nonprofit whose mission is to “share Christ’s love by serving the unsheltered” in
downtown Orlando “through comprehensive mobile drop-in centers,” asked me to join as the Outreach Pastor for the unsheltered. For the last year, I have been finding healing through therapy and ministering to the population that is overlooked in our city.
Also, the moment I moved back in March 2021, opportunities began to open with my music career. I began to perform a month back in Orlando and every other month since then. On August 24, I released my second project dedicated to my late mother entitled “Bloomed in the Moonlight” Doors in my position at S.A.L.T. and music continues to open as both are expanding. I’m currently conducting 2 Bible studies a week and an outdoor worship service for the unsheltered and also have been selected as a nominee for the International Christian Film and Music Festival occurring this year. If were to summarize my story it would be the imagery of blooming in the moonlight. Despite the metaphorical night that encompasses trials, suffering, and hardship, there have been people throughout my life who like the moon has reflected light in my darkest days that has allowed me to continue to bloom in the darkness, to one day help and encourage others to bloom in their darkness.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Life hasn’t been smooth as mentioned in my story. As I’ve journeyed through therapy I’ve realized my upbringing wasn’t as normal as I believed. At an extremely young age, I was exposed to many things and ideologies. Life has been a journey of learning, unlearning, and relearning worldviews and values. Yet, the greatest obstacle I have faced has been the loss of my mother, Rosa M. Flores, we were extremely close. I’ve been aware of our mortality so I always made sure to give her her flowers while alive. She was played an irreplaceable role, I always wanted to make her proud. Her loss feels as if I were experiencing phantom pain, and the challenge right now is learning how to carry on life without a pivotal limb. As desirable as a smooth road may be, I know I wouldn’t be the man and minister the way I do today if not for the diverse terrain of experience I’ve traveled on. From the example of my parents, especially my mother, I learned to look at obstacles and instead shy away or complain, move towards it with faith knowing you will be stronger on the side of it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I love creating music. I have been rapping for 15 plus years both in English and Spanish. I try to specialize and am most known for rapping and singing and invest all my attention and ability at being a better lyricist and songwriter always studying the craft. I’m proud of all the little successes and projects that I’ve gotten the privilege to work on, but as of late, I’m proud of my album “Bloomed in the Moonlight” which was dedicated to my mother. I was able to record her before passing and have her be a part of the project. From what I’ve gathered from people’s feedback what sets me apart is a combination of catchy melodies yet still have lyrical content. I weave my life experiences from relationships, values, and put my theological degree to use in everything I do making my music personal and thought-provoking.
How do you define success?
Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. We all have different aim’s and purposes in our lives meaning that success has an unending variation of what it looks like. My aim can be summed up when Paul said, “my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24) Success is using the God-given resources in my reach faithfully to the best of my unique abilities to serve others not just in words but also in action.
- Email: Wilfredomuzik@gmail.com
- Website: https://wilfredomuzik.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wilfredo.muzik/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Wilfredomuzik
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwlK1S__HumBL3pzzpPLf wQ
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ndJIh2b3RLa9Pod6vijdC?si=Gk Zlz7IiSaul8ZBiJSv0oQ
Image Credits
Eddie Rolon
Manuel Arteaga
