Meet Vin’s Da Cuero | Beatmaker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vin’s Da Cuero and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vin’S da Cuero, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It’s quite simple. I didn’t feel like waiting after anyone. I was
young, stubborn and wanted to be free to release my music when I
wanted, how I wanted, to work with whom I wanted. First thing we did
with Pumpkin, the French rapper I was working with at the time, was to
find a name for a label, and then buy the domain name to make it
“official”. It was a gamble because we didn’t know anything or anyone
in the industry. But we made it work.
It’s hard being independent in the music business, especially when you
run your own label, on top of what you’re creating in the studio. You
have to think about every little detail, adapt to new ways of
communicating, find money and partners, deal with record factories…
But in the end, when it works out and you reach your audience, it’s
super rewarding because what’s been delivered is exactly what you had
in

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a French beatmaker from Paris. My mom is from Chile, so since I’me
a kid, I always had an uncle playing the guitar around, with the rest
of the family singing and using tables and stools for percussion. I
started music around 14 years old, with my neighborhood friends. In
the beginning, we were rapping on B-sides instrumentals. But most of
the time, it was just an excuse to get together and smoke weed. Very
quickly, I picked interest in sampling. At 18, I bought my first drum
machine, an MPC2000XL, and created my first real beats. Being a
terrible rapper, I dropped the pen shortly after to focus on the pads.
Thanks to MySpace, I started to meet people who were making too.
That’s how I ended up in my first crew, the ViBe League, founded by
Supafuh. It was a crew gathering beatmakers, DJs, emcees from all
around Europe. In 2011, I co-founded Mentalow Music with Pumpkin (who
was part of the ViBe League), and now I’m running TwentyOneArts, Hip
Hop/House music label focused on instrumental music.
In my music journey, I’ve toured all across Europe, taught music in
prison, worked as a sound engineer, designed album covers and posters,
created soundtracks for museum exhibitions… I feel like the key to
make your career last is to learn new skills, so you can adjust and
keep on going. I don’t think I would have made a living if I didn’t
leave the studio to go on tour, for example. I was agoraphobic in my
20’s and had tons of panic attacks, so it was a battle with myself to
do that. But it healed me and got me my first paychecks, credibility
as an artist, and contacts.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Paris is a very walkable city. So first of all, I would recommend
bringing some good sneakers! Museums are on top of the list: the
Louvre, Orsay, the MAD, Pompidou… You can spend the whole week
visiting museums. But I feel like the best activity is just to walk
around. There’s thousands of great buildings all over the place, nice
parks, tiny cool clothing shops like Drôle de Monsieur or Bleu de
Paname, huge department stores from the 1800’s like Printemps
Haussmann and Galeries Lafayette, bakeries on every corner… We also
have great venues, so I would definitely recommend going to see some
shows. The Maroquinerie, the Cigale, the Elysée Montmartre and the
Bellevilloise being some of my favorite ones. And because it’s next to
my place, I would recommend the Saint Ouen flea market.
Also, the railway system around Paris is amazing, so I would go around
by train. Lille is super nice, Strasbourg, Nantes, Bordeaux and Lyon
too. The Normandy coast is beautiful. You can even cross the border
and go to Brussels, Antwerp or even London. All those places are one
or two hours away from Paris. But if I had to pick just two, it would
be London and Antwerp. London because it’s London. There’s no other
cities like it, you have to experience it. And Antwerp, because I used
to go there a lot when my girlfriend was playing pro basketball next
to it. The vibe is super chill, great architecture. I could totally
picture myself living there one day, if I ever move from Paris.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
in the early 2010’s. We had an amazing journey. When we founded our
label and started reaching out to people, we could tell they were kind
of mocking us. But thanks to hard work and patience, we built
something strong, brick by brick. Now she’s super involved in female
empowerment into French Rap music. Things are moving around slowly for
women in the music industry, and she’s part of the solution, so shout
out to her.

Website: https://www.twentyonearts.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinsdacuero

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vinsdacuero

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/vinsdacuero

Other: https://open.spotify.com/intl-fr/artist/51Vz8wPWLm0d2qynon3pwm?si=CkSgkOetSnq4FkkJGheulA