Ryan Martinez gets jumped

Welcome to The Jump! Today we jump Ryan Martinez. An underground rap artist from the Bay Area with a shitload of ambition and talent. 

Download his mixtape 'Highway' HERE

That Guy Lie: Thanks for taking time out of your night to talk to us here at The Jump. Tell us a little of what inspired you to pursue a career in music.

Ryan Martinez: Well, I am very inspired by my father who passed away when I was two. I make music to spread positivity and to spread love! My goal is to make a difference in peoples life through my music. I love gaining support through making music about my real life, getting thoughts out my brain onto paper and then on a track is such a good feeling and then for people to listen and like it , thats a blessing!

TGL: You're from a small town in the Bay Area. Do you feel like being from Martinez gives you an edge? Or does it seem like artists from Martinez are overshadowed by the larger cities in the Bay?

RM: I think being from Martinez has its positives and its negatives, it helps being from a small town because people usually are interested in listening and supporting because the music scene has never really gotten big in Martinez. So it gives me a chance to rep my hometown and be the first to do it! Although it would be nice to be from a bigger city. I love Martinez and will continue to put on till the death of me!

TGL: How does it feel to have your music gradually increasing in popularity? You've opened up for Starting Six, Roach Gigz, and even Bobby Brackins. Do you feel like you'll be headlining shows any time soon?

RM: Having my music growing so rapidly, and gaining fans at this stage in my career is crazy. I never thought that I would have made it this far in such a short time. But I haven't reached where i wanna go yet, I still have many goals I want to pursure in the near future. Opening up for  those big names has been amazing to experience, watching the crowd react to me even though nobody knew me, it has been a learning experience and it has helped me gain a lot of fans. I have learned a lot from meeting all these guys, watching them perform and listening to their music. I plan to headline a few shows this upcoming year, hopefully I can continue to rise through the ranks locally and headline local spots soon!

TGL: Last but not least. Tell us about being signed to Five Star Music.

RM: Being signed to 5 star music is a surreal feeling, I remember I was a young rapper, a freshman in high school and I followed Mistah Blinks music all over myspace and YouTube and I would always hit him up for collabs and beat - he was a really chill guy, always offering studio time for cheap and I remember when he created Five Star. I wanted to join it so bad, but as I grew as a rapper I started showing Blinks more of my stuff for his opinon and he would always tell me that he's waiting for "that one song" to go out of my comfort zone and make that hit! I plan to make that hit with Five Star! Working with Z3RO baby and the whole 5 Star fam is gonna be insane! Look out in the future, we taking over!