Album art by Charles “Charlie” Fallon ’21 | Diego “Lil Guac” Acevedo Garcia presents his debut album. It drops on Oct. 7.
By Hayden Welty ’19
THE ROUNDUP
With his interest in rapping beginning last Christmas, Diego Acevedo Garcia ’21 said he is going to release his first album, entitled Diabeto, on Oct. 7 via the music sharing platform called Soundcloud.
When Acevedo Garcia started writing lyrics down around nine months ago, he said he became hooked.
“I got really passionate about it,” he said. “I kept on writing and writing and writing.”
When he dropped the first couple of songs on Soundcloud, Acevedo Garcia said he was encouraged by the reception.
“Everyone seemed to like it, so I kept on writing songs,” he said. “It really makes me happy that a lot of people enjoy listening to my music.”
Deriving the name Lil Guac from his avocado-sounding last name and his relative short stature––five foot and six inches––when compared to his friends, Acevedo Garcia has released two songs on his Soundcloud account so far in his music career. However, he said he has written many more.
“Some [songs] I haven’t released because I’m really picky about what I release because overall––with my songs––I don’t way to spread a bad message like most of the rappers today,” he said. “I want to say something good, and I also wanna put something in peoples’ heads to think about.”
Learning about Lil Guac recently, Mr. Austin Pidgeon ’08, who teaches Acevedo Garcia in seventh period Honors English II and who listens to a lot of hip hop and rap himself, said he likes the appropriateness of his lyrics.
“I appreciate that his lyrics are appropriate for his age group and audience,” he said.
Mr. Pidgeon said he learned of Acevedo Garcia’s rap career through word of mouth.
“His friends mentioned to me that he was a Soundcloud rapper, and I did not believe it because I would not have expected that from him,” he said. “But I was thrilled to find out it was real.”
Acevedo Garcia said he is happily surprised by his own notoriety and success.
“Overall, I’ve just grown passionate about creating music, and I didn’t know it would come to this point,” he said. “I go around the school, and a lot of people know me by that name [Lil Guac] now.”
Acevedo Garcia said he decided to call his upcoming, twelve-song album “Diabeto” because of his own experience with type 1 diabetes.
“There was this program I went to for type 1 diabetes, and that was their slogan for the program,” he said. “It just stuck in my head, and it has a strong meaning to me.”
Acevedo Garcia said he thinks the quality of the upcoming release is much higher than Lil Guac’s previous work.
“The two last songs I’ve made sound amateur compared to the album I’m about to release because I’ve really put a lot of work into what I’m about to release in a couple weeks,” Acevedo Garcia said.
He said he hopes to record the album on more professional equipment at Brophy, upgrading from a setup utilizing his own computer and microphone.
Aside from collaborating with a friend named Charles “Charlie” Fallon ’21, Acevedo Garcia said he works alone.
“He’d ask me for advice on lyrics and things like that later on,” Fallon said. “I just got more and more involved, and I made him another album cover.”
Acevedo Garcia said that Fallon encourages him to keep creating music, helps him with any questions he has, and listens to his music to provide feedback. Yet he said he maintains a considerable degree of autonomy.
“I find the beat, I make my own lyrics, I record my own music, [and] I produce my own songs because if I had a team, I don’t think they’d have the mindset that I have,” Acevedo Garcia said. “I don’t think they’d know what I want.”
Acevedo Garcia consistently reiterated his passion for the music he produces. “I appreciate and support authentic artistry, and in the world of Soundcloud rappers, I think he is an authentic artist…” Mr. Pidgeon said. “So I appreciate that, and I will support that.”
