Original music displayed through student’s hobby
Music isn’t his future career, but junior kinesiology and sports management major Blessed Vargas is still passionate about the music he creates.
“It’s honestly just a hobby, but it’s a hobby I take seriously,” Vargas said. “So it’s like, I’m not gonna put out something that isn’t impactful to anybody. I’m not gonna put out something generic. I’m not gonna put out something where I’m bragging about money or cars. I’ll put out something where like the lyrics will hit me. At the Ruby Ball, there were a lot of moments where people were just reacting to what I said and I’m like, ‘That’s exactly what I want from my music.’”
Vargas, whose stage name is Wraith Wilson, first considered making rap music before his junior year of high school. Vargas was born in New York but grew up in Puerto Rico before coming to USD.
Vargas performed at the Ruby Ball earlier this month, which was his first live performance. Vargas is the president of Union of African American Students (UAAS), which puts on the ball each year, and kept his performance this year a secret.
“I knew that I was going to perform, but my exec board didn’t know that I was gonna perform because I didn’t let them know until the week of the performance,” Vargas said. “I wrote one song that was unreleased. That same week, I was like, ‘I have to get this done for Ruby Ball.’”
Vargas performed a song he wrote specifically for the Ruby Ball, and performed it live despite his worries of any mistakes.
“The whole week leading up to the event I was super nervous because I was like ‘I’m gonna forget my lyrics, nothing’s gonna go right,’” Vargas said. “When I actually stepped on stage and actually started performing, that first song that I did was the most flawless delivery I’ve ever put down live or recorded without any slip-ups, and I’ll look back at the video of it and it’s crazy how nice that was.”
Vargas has a few songs available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Music, and said he usually works on his music alone, but if he wants his voice mixed a specific way, he will have someone help him out. Most of his music remains unreleased as he decides whether he likes the song or not after giving himself time to listen to the final product.
“I’ve made at least 20-something (songs), but not all of it’s on all streaming platforms,” Vargas said. “I have, not an entire album, but almost an entire album, where I made it and I was like ‘it’s good,’ and (when I) listen to it now I’m like, these two, three songs are nice, but I don’t know about the rest of them, so it’s just sitting on my laptop right now.”
In order to get in the mood to make music, Vargas finds motivation from listening to heavy metal music, and he said whenever he listens to heavy metal music outside of the gym, it motivates him to hurry and go make music.
Vargas uses his own life experiences to make his music, and plans to keep making music on the side as he works to become a strength coach for a high school or college. Vargas currently works as a personal trainer while he studies at USD.
“Usually just like my own my life experiences, stuff that (inspires me),” Vargas said. “Especially since I started making my own music, the way that I listen to music is way different. I listen to certain parts of the instrumental style, certain lines, certain ways to deliver and stuff like that. So listening to new artists is probably one of the things that drives me where I’m like, okay, this is a nice song, I need to start making more music.”
