Jon Rubio

Labios Rosados

Interview by David R. Navarro

David R. Navarro: Tell us a little bit about yourself? Your music?

Jon Rubio: I’m a first generation Mexican American, grew up here in Denver. Music has been in my home life growing up and eventually I took this music path to be my career.

In college, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do exactly, but I knew it was to write music and lyrics. I love listening to rap, metal and all kinds of genres and I ended up starting to rap and make beats. Eventually, I started getting gigs and fell in love with hip hop. Since then I’ve been seriously dedicating time and making sacrifices to be able to build myself as an artist.

DN: How long have you been in the music industry?

JR: I’ve been involved with the music industry for a solid 4, almost 5 years.

DN: What made you decide to be serious about music?

JR: Seeing live musicians play and have a following really inspired me to take on that role and want to influence others through my music. I’ve always wanted to be a rock star and also have a platform to speak truth in peoples lives.

DN: Tell us about your latest single, “Labios Rosados” Featuring Katiria and Yugs.

JR: Labios Rosados means rosy lips in Spanish. I came up with the name thinking about my relationship with a girl. Also, with my relationship with music, I decided to personify it by making it represent a relationship. It was really fun writing the lyrics. It explains the feeling of loving something or someone but not knowing if it’s mutual. This track was also filmed in Golden, Colorado with beautiful backdrop and scenery.

DN: How did the collaboration with Katiria and Yugs come about?

JR: My homie Yugs is a producer I befriended at one of my shows. We met up and created my first single called “Swervin” and he sent me another beat after the release. He told me that he had a friend named, “Katiria” who was a phenomenal Latin pop artist. I checked her music out, ended up linking with her and Yugs to discuss the song and logistics, and then got to work. We had a lot of fun writing and recording together. Special shout to DJ Deuce who is my engineer for making this track sound smooth and professional.

DN: Which people or books have had the most influence on your music career and why?

JR: There’s a lot of people who influenced me the most in my career. To sum it up, I’d say Tech N9ne is a huge influence for me. Growing up listening to him really helped get through hard times and inspired me to start rapping. His lyrics about the music road made me want to be apart of that and spread music people will love and relate too. I’m not much of a reader, but I really enjoy reading about Daoism, Chinese philosophy. There’s a book called the “Tao Te Ching” which has teachings of Daoism documented by Lao Tzu who was a Chinese philosopher. The book really opened my mind to just go with the flow and not stress too much and take life so seriously. My career hasn’t taken off yet, but my patience and determination has allowed me to not quit the game and to put in the work to become successful.

DN: What would you say is the #1 key to success in the music industry?

JR: The number one key to success in anything, not just in music but in life, is the mindset to know you are already successful. You gotta have the mindset to have dreams and work towards them. I can’t tell you how many friends and family members with so much potential had dreams but didn’t have the mindset to accomplish them. You have to do more than just want it. You have to want it as much as you want to breathe. With that mindset you will accomplish anything.

DN: Can you give us some examples of things you are doing or have done to expand your fanbase?

JR: Recently I’ve been doing more collars and supporting more local artist by doing shows and going to shows. Networking is really the main thing to build an audience. You’d be surprised how much that can build your fan base. Also, social media and streaming platform advertising/marketing. These are some things I’ve been doing to grow and expand my audience.

DN: Talk about the biggest failure you’ve had. What did you learn from it?

JR: I think the biggest failure I’ve had would be when I joined a rap group. We wanted to build a label and started doing shows to promote. Eventually, I ended up being the only one putting in effort to really make it big time. This taught me a valuable lesson to not trust people but let their actions prove what they want.

DN: What advice can you give others who want to follow in your footsteps?

JR: My advice to those who want to pursue the music path, hip hop specifically, is to invest in yourself, always strive to sharpen your craft and stand out from everything and everyone.

DN: What does a typical day in your week look like?

JR: I usually go to the gym, go to work to sustain a living and save for my music career. I also run my social and am constantly working and learning more of what I can do to further my career. Also making beats and writing lyrics consistently has really been my main focus now.

DN: What keeps you going when things get tough in the business?

JR: Building a brand and business isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very hard and lonely road sometimes. But, when you get to those points of your career it’s important to always remember why you’re following that path in the first place. This has helped me stay inspired and driven to continue the music route.

DN: Please list your website and/or your social media platforms.

JR: Below is my linktree with all my social media platforms and streaming platforms.

https://linktr.ee/JonRubioMusic

DN: Is there anything else you’d like us to know about you?

JR: Follow me on Instagram to see more behind-the-scenes and stay updated on what I’m working on.