Emerging from Pacoima, CA, VaughnyxOcho has been hustling any way he can to achieve his dream of becoming a successful rap artist. Working his way up with fellow valley natives like his producer and longtime friend IAmReq. The two go way back, along with the rest of his crew who swarm events rocking 8 hats to represent the Ocho, The 818, The Valley. LA’s backyard neighbor who always throws sketchy house parties despite inevitably get raided by the cops. As a valley native myself, I take pride in coming from a historic community. A place where movies were first made, missions were first built and where all your favorite celebrities go to hide out from TMZ tour buses. Out here, the people have history and of all the artists coming out of the 818, VaughnyxOcho is repping it the hardest.
In true valley fashion, VaughnyxOcho is a friend of mine and since his 2014 mixtape The Rarity, I’ve seen him truly grow as an artist. In his new project Dial 8, he harnesses his voice and uses it to send a message about where he’s from and where he’s headed. We were able to talk with Vaughn about his journey in music and what he has planned for the future, check it out below.
Photos by: @markie818
Whats up Vaughn, how you been?
Doin’ good can’t complain.
It’s been quite the journey for you when we first started talking music you had just released The Rarity in 2014.
Yea, now I dropped Dial 8 under VaughnyxOcho. I changed my alias, I used to go under Stanley Vaughn. I remarketed myself as a new character, Stanley Vaughn is the hustler VaughnyxOcho is the product.
Is this something you intentionally wanted to do?
At first, I didn’t want people to keep knowing me as the same person cause they expect the same results. I was like I need a new breath of air so I just changed my alias cause reality, I changed the reality of who I was. So then people changed the reality of they treated me.
That’s dope, I think it’s cool to see how you started to formulate a plan by first dropping your video “Burn.”
That was the first single we did with my boy ReqStillIs my producer. It started off as a joke, I didn’t like that beat at first and he was like “Bro, Why you pass on this beat?” We were just vibing, fuckin around listening to old DPG and shit. I always wanted to be apart of West Coast culture so I took it back to old house parties and said: “if the roof on fire let the motherfucker burn.” And I was like shit everybody in the west smoke so “If the blunt on me don’t miss my turn.”
I feel like this mixtape is a lot more fun but you also have a love song in there.
Yeah “Used to Be,” my boy A Lewis, actually his first single was with T.I. he used to be apart of Hustle Gang.
Dial 8 is out now, where can they find it?
We dropped it on all platforms imma put it on SoundCloud later this summer cause I wanted to get my streams up. As an independent artist, I wanted to be able to show that I can make money off of music also. I just wanted to challenge myself and see how far I can take it with streams. It was actually finished in February we were gonna release it in April but I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t have the vision all ready. A lot of stuff started blooming toward March.
As far as what?
As far as how I wanted the marketing, I didn’t want my shit to be here and gone tomorrow. I wanted to say this is the valley shit I’m pushing, I even made a new hat. I was rocking with the 8 hat but then we made the SFV hat. I wanted to have my campaign strong cause now there’s so much music that your shit will be here one day and then everybody forgets about you. So I had to have the merch right, I had to get my artwork right. I had to be set up with the right people, if you don’t have the right people looking at it, it will never be looked at.
How did you first get into music?
My mom used to always have tape recorders. She’s an evangelist and she used to go to Bible School and one day I stole her recorder. I used to download CD’s from my brothers and downloaded some beats off Limewire. The first beats I rapped to was “Ambitionz az a Ridah,” my rap name was baby scarface.
How old were you?
Shit, I started trying to bust flows at 11; just trying. Cause I always thought it’s tight to see that somebodies opinion is so valued. I like that when you speak someone listens. I was like yeah, I want my word to mean something.
You had a listening party for Dial 8 and people really showed out for you, how did that feel?
This was the most love I ever got to be real with you. I remember being looked at by the city like “yeah he’s just a local.” Now I feel like they’re looking at me like he gonna be worldwide. A lot of people have spent the valley dollar. The Valley dollar is real and people spent it on me like ‘I’m betting on you, I’m rolling the dice on you.’
Yeah, this time feels different, where do you see yourself taking it?
One of my biggest inspirations is Dom Kennedy. He was honestly the first blueprint I paid attention to. He was selling his own merch, putting together his own shows. He never made it seem like he got a million dollars but he let you know that he wakes up every day and can pay attention to rap. So where I see myself is at least an underground legend right now. Selling out shows, headline my own shows. I also see myself having one of the biggest brands in California as far as my hats and clothes. Being the king of the valley used to be a thing, but now I just wanna be the heart of the city. Like when you look around, the shit I talk about, the shit I wear how I act that’s how I get down. I want you to be able to feel that.
For more information: VaughnyxOcho
