Steven "Young P" Martinez The Garimerican Story 

    

By Jose Francisco Avila
 

Steven "Young P" Martinez was born and raised in New York, Uptown Bronx in the Edenwald Projects. He is the youngest of four children. 

 

He hails from a musical family from his mother's side who are all musically gifted from his Grand Mother Senovia "Anty" estrada who was a lyrical Composer down to his uncles, aunts, cousins & sibling who are lyricists as well, Percussionists, Guitar & Bass players. 

 

He considers himself  a Garifuna-American who wants to expose his culture as well as his music versatility. Besides Garifuna Music, he produces  well known genres such as Zouk, Reggae, Soca, Rock, Hip Hop, Pop, R&B, Bachata, and Reggaeton. He is member of the GX Production Team, which stands for Generation X, who are  striving to be the most successful Garifuna Producers. In 2013, they produced  Gari from the Hood

 

Gari from the Hood Continues Hip hop music's tradition of being the "outlet and a "voice" for the disenfranchised youth of low-economic areas",  Young P sampled Nas' "Ur The Man" and combined the element of Hip-Hop with Punta Rock! (Listen to Young P explain the Making of Gari from the Hood) Checkout Young P's Media Center

 

At the age of ten, He started learning to play  musical instruments such as The Keyboard, Bass and guitar. He Practiced so much that he used to stay indoors most of the time. His father didn't understand why he wouldn't  go outside and play basketball with the other children. However, "Young P"  was dedicated to developing his musical skills. From very young, he practiced every type of music but not  much Garifuna music. 

 

He was inspired  to play Garifuna music by   Kaligar Band  which twas founded by his cousins, Pedro "Peter" Peri, Nildo "Babylou" Colon and his uncle Jacinto "Kaliman" Garcia. He later joined the Family Band as a guitarist at the age of 15 and started to experience the world of performance. 

 

As an Artist and Producer, he has worked with many Garifuna Legendaries such as Aziatic, El Sheriff, Marconi star, Linky Zapata, the late jimmy Suazo, Babylou,ervin arzu, Emilio Nunez, Libana Maraza, Paula Castillo, Ervin Arzu, Jobo, Eddie Gng, El unico just to name a few. 

 

"I believe that many artists and producers in today's world are just making music for Gimmick, the money and not truly supporting the Essence of real music. My goal as a Producer is to bring Back that Quality & soul music for healing"  

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