Today we’d like to introduce you to Medino Green.
Medino, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My journey started when I attended summer school for the seventh grade. I became friends with the boys from around the way that were playing around with music and it was basically a monkey see monkey do type of thing only because I wasn’t playing sports but I did have an interest peak in music. By the time I became a freshman in high school, I started taking my music a lot more serious. Once I started to write my own content & find who I was as an artist, My dream was to be signed by a bad boy. I remember watching the making the band series 3 where he put together all the rappers and he had them battle each other, back-and-forth, etc. that really excited me! but I was way too young to even participate in that. I just kept focusing on music to the point that everyone that interacted with me knew that I wanted to be a rapper and I barely made it out of high school because of that. – It was such a focus for me. Being young, not having any responsibilities just knowing that I was talented and based off of people’s reactions when they would hear me, I just felt like this is my calling.
Up until a certain point of my career, I never really dabbled or talked about my sexuality because I didn’t want it to be a “thing” and I did not know at the time that openly gay rappers existed until I was introduced to some. They basically gave me the advice to be authentic to who you are, and people will gravitate to you if they resonate or like you and what it is that you do. I was presented an opportunity to be a part of a group that would potentially be performing at clubs and stuff like that even though I was underage, I was still given the opportunity to do so, and that’s what made me come to the decision of coming out to my parents. The career path that I was on for me music was extremely important, and I felt like if my parents were aware of who I was and how my music with sound, there would be no surprises about anything. That idea fortunately did not go as planned 100%. It definitely put a wedge between my Pops and myself. He took it really personal, and he blamed his self. I remember being in the booth recording, and I got a voicemail from him saying that he was sorry for failing me as a parent, and it just put a strain on our relationship. It almost felt like he was avoiding me and then when we would see each other, it was always unnecessary tension and animosity coming from him over little things if I wanted my hair in a ponytail if the ponytail was too high, or how my clothes fit, or the colors I chose to wear, etc. it was very uncomfortable, and I just had to leave at that point. I never asked for an apology because I am a firm believer that people should not apologize for expressing how they genuinely feel about something and I could tell he was very unhappy with how I wanted to identify and looking back, I wish he was a bit more supportive in that aspect because prior to me coming out, he was supportive of my music.
After experiencing that and trying to find myself as an artist and balance my regular life I ended up putting music on pause for a while just to figure out more about myself. In 2016, I returned back to music with a mixtape.#M23 that was my re-introduction to people that knew me knew I was finally back and to people who have never met me before hearing me for the first time and the welcome back was definitely felt. I had a viral song called “Good D*ck” feat. Bry’Nt that had people talking, and it was featured in a couple of hit YouTube series. Performing this song and watching people react. Every time is always a pleasure for people that are hearing it for the first time or for someone who has heard it before. It definitely gets the crowd up. Lol. Since that success, I have just tried to remained consistent with music. I have put out two additional mixtapes ‘The Carry’ and ‘InMyBag’ along with two EP’s ‘GRN’ and ‘GRN 2: The Re-Up’ that are available on streaming platforms now and I’m finishing up my album along with the third and the last installment of the ‘GRN’ ep series. I’m very thankful for where my music has taken me, the stages I have been able to perform on, the artist that I’ve gotten to meet and talk to personally and the amount of support that I still get every time I put out something. And to be quite honest, I feel like I’m just getting started.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not, lol. For a long time I had tried to make music that was catering towards a certain demographic, and it always backfired, and I could never figure out why. Until I realized that the demographic that I’m catering to doesn’t necessarily care for what it is that I do. A lot of men in the LGBTQ-plus community will tell you straight up that they do not listen to rap music “like that.” They listen mostly to R&B and gospel, along with pop, etc. But recently, the interest in female rap has taken the community by storm. They don’t necessarily prefer to listen to gay male rappers they just resonate more with female rappers or the feminine energy that they possess. For an artist like myself who would probably be classified as a butch queen that ain’t what they want. They wanna twerk and pop p*ssy and it’s nothing wrong with that. However, I don’t necessarily make music like that. It’s one thing when people respect what you do versus when people support what you do.
I spent a long time trying to get the community to see me as someone with enough potential to be a breath of fresh air in music and a representation for them. I’m on Twitter a lot and I always come across these profiles of people asking about other openly queer artist as far as who else is out there or who makes a different sound of music and to see people ask those questions when the answers are really right in front of them if they actually wanted to listen is always baffling to me. There are a lot of artists like myself that have similar, masculine/aggressive Sounds that don’t get the same response as someone who would identify more feminine and flamboyant as far as looks and sounds go. I’m rooting for everyone to win. However, I’m rooting for diversity as well because just like a lot of men can’t relate to my style or my sound. There are a lot of men who can’t relate to the other’s sounds neither, so I think there needs to be a balance to where there is a representation for all walks of the community.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a Rapper/Hip-hop artist. My specialty is making good music reminiscent of the 90s. I’m known for being ahead of my time with my content, I’m known for being Braggadocious, I’m known for having this Mack daddy persona. I think right now I am most proud of myself for continuing this journey, especially when it was hard. when I was not getting booked for shows when I didn’t put out music for a long period of time. When I couldn’t get DJs to spin my records in the clubs, I’m in a place of peace now because I’ve just been able to bounce back from those things. I think what’s going to set me apart from the others is the hunger for me. I’ve sat back for a long time and watched artists coming after me excel more than me and then they basically fade away. I don’t think there’s anyone as hungry as me when it comes to this rap sh*t.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m not sure, if I tell you then it won’t be a surprise anymore lol. I think I may have some songs that come across like I’m a very mean individual or would make someone question who I am as a person internally if I’m able to create and come up with this type of music, but in reality am a very reserved individual. I can make a song dogging the male species, but I am a part of the male species as well and I’m very aware of that when they say man ain’t Sh*t – we aren’t. And that’s something that I can admit. Lol.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/MedinoGreen
- Facebook: Facebook.com/MedinoGreenMusic
- Twitter: Twitter.com/MedinoGreen
- Youtube: YouTube.com/MedinoGreenTV
- SoundCloud: SoundCloud.com/MedinoGreen
