benhurzz

MUSIC

I am a 20 year old musician/artist/producer from the Philippines. As a kid I grew up spending a lot of time on games. All the time I’ve always had interest on sound, and being immersed in sound production. Music games such as O2JAM, and Guitar Hero gave me an ear as a kid. In my teenage years I was heavily influenced by Hip-hop, Rap, R&B and electronic music. This drove me into making music only as a hobby at first.

Back then in 2013 I began to make ‘music’ using a pretty handy website with pre-recorded patterns; looking back at it I still laugh at my old creations. Couple of years later I was deep into the realm of Hip-Hop and rap. Using my phone I started to make ‘type beats’ and posted them on SoundCloud (2015-2017).

It was revealed to me that music is nothing without a purpose, most importantly, your own life. Each of us in this world have a purpose for God, our lives are not an accident. Making “type beats” did not improve my craft and my focus, as I was focusing on appealing and making the same music of the world, which is mostly concerning. I really thought that I would gain attraction from popular artists by becoming influenced by them. All along it was the power of God that would later on be revealed to me, and now I am testifying of His goodness over my life, over the years. Though again, it happened to me in 2018-2019. Trying to focus on the world and looking for people to please I thought making ‘lo-fi’ music exclusively as an artist would get me somewhere. I was just trying to get some attention from some people that I didn’t know, and to ‘fit in’.

This is when I took a year off of not putting out any music. Questions came, is my music up to par with the others? How will I share my faith in God through instrumentals/beats only? That is when I was given an opportunity by Him, through my church Pag-asa Centre. Around the middle of 2020 I had to produce beats for our Church gathering/livestream online. At first it was kind of off-putting, as I was too deep into my own ‘aesthetic’ of nonchalant, calm lo-fi beats and didn’t want to make Pop influenced music, or ‘happy’ music. However as I was commanded to, I was very surprised of the tracks that came out. Again, this is not my own strength but God’s will for my life. By now I am aware that God has a purpose for my (and His) artistry through me, living life abundantly through Jesus Christ I know how I will share the Gospel to those who need the Truth.

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