Friday, May 26th in Chicago. For the first time in months, I bike to the Humboldt Park Boathouse to interview one of the featured performers of the upcoming Puerto Rican Festival. As soon as I arrive, I am met with the familiar sight of couples and families sitting around the lagoon trying to soak up as much sun as possible. As I lock my bike up, I receive a text that the artist I am supposed to be interviewing has arrived and is wearing red. Immediately after looking up from my phone, I see him. I walk up and introduce myself and in the process mispronounce his name. He laughs it off and corrects me, telling me that his name is Algarii the 1. (All-gar-ree the one)

Humboldt Park Magazine (HP) : How did you get your stage name, Algarii the 1?*

Algarii the 1: It was actually my manager, we were talking about it. I’m actually a party person, so they got a phrase in Puerto Rico, cuando no al garete, like if you like to party, stuff like that, oh, es la persona al garete, y’know, and uh, we actually came with the little twist, Algarii. I like to party, I like to do all that fun stuff, so that’s how the name came about.

(HP) Where did the 1 come from?*
(Well, I’m actually the only Algarii.) We searched it up and I’m the only Algarii. So I’m like “you know what, I’m the one.” So we put it like that, Algarii The 1. 

(HP) You first performed at the Humboldt Park Puerto Rican Festival when you were part of the group Los Perdios. What makes you most excited about performing at the Puerto Rican Festival this year?*

To be honest, it’s like a dream come true because ever since I was little I used to come to the festivals with my family and I was introduced to the music. Since I was young and I always said “Man, one day I wanna be up there on stage” and, when I actually got the privilege to do it with the group that I used to be with, it was a dream come true. And for me to stop for so long in the industry and come back again, reliving my dream, and actually to be able to perform for my people, especially for the community, I love helping out the community, and for me to actually get the opportunity to do that, it’s another dream come true. And I am excited, (I've) been waiting for the day to come, I actually have been counting the days. I grew up in Humboldt Park, so to me, it’s like, this is my second home. For me to actually perform and show my actual people from Chicago my talent, it’s a big privilege that I'm representing Chicago, so, it’s pretty amazing.

(HP) How do you think this performance will be different from the first time you performed at the festival?*

I’m more prepared. The last time I actually performed I was really young, so now, my style changed. Like I told you previously, it’s more party, so I'm ready to see the people’s faces, enjoying themselves, and dancing. That’s what they actually come to do, come enjoy the culture, y’know, everybody gets together to enjoy themselves, and for me to get the privilege to enjoy it with them too, that’s a big plus. 

(HP) How old were you when you first performed at the Puerto Rican festival?*

If I’m not mistaken I was like, 16, 17 years old. 

(HP) Do you feel more confident now performing?*

Yes, definitely, yeah. 

(HP) Will we see your team perform with you, the dancers - Nathalie, Aileen, Chloe, Jasmine - during this Puerto Rican Festival?*

Yes, those are my main dancers and they go with me everywhere. They travel with me everywhere, we’re like an actual family, y’know? If I'm missing one person I don’t feel complete. That’s my entire team and everywhere we go, we rock the show. 

(HP) Do you all practice choreography for performances on stage?*

Yup, we actually do. Prior to any event, we always make sure that the girls practice. I actually practice with them, but I get so excited with the crowd that I just forget everything. I always try to practice with the girls, but I let them do their thing ‘cause they’re really amazing. Today, we actually got practice, after this interview. We try to stay professional, always practice, but we actually don’t go to practice, we actually go to have fun. That’s what I always tell my team, take this as having fun. They are professional dancers and they want to make it up there too, y’know, everybody has their dream, and it’s an honor for me to help them out to make their dream come true, and they’re actually helping me out too, y’know, so we’re helping each other out. I love performing for the audience and they love dancing, so, y’know, it’s something amazing that in a couple years we’ll talk about it and it’s a good memory.

(HP) How did you all get into contact with each other? What was that like? 

Actually, it was my sister-in-law. She was one of my main dancers and she brought Jazzy, and it was actually my first performance back doing music. It’s been pretty big, for a year and two months, I've already accomplished so many things and this year is going to be pretty amazing. So she actually brought Jazzy, and my sister-in-law she does her music stuff, so she travels, but Jazzy stuck with us and Jazzy brought Chloe and Nathalie, and we also have Aileen, she knows Ruby, so they actually decided to join the team and it’s been pretty good. They’re amazing girls.

(HP) What were some of the most memorable performances you’ve done? You mentioned earlier that you opened for Lunay, but are there others that come to mind?*

For the short period of time that I’ve been back, I’ve opened up for a lot of my idols that I grew up seeing when I was little. Not knowing that I would have this opportunity to open up their concert, y’know? Like, I grew up to J Álvarez and Angel y Khriz. Actually, when he used to come perform out here I actually told Angel y Khriz like, man, I’m a big fan of you guys, and for me to open up [for them], they were really amazing people, they didn’t treat me no different, they treated me like a regular artist. I felt the love from them. J Álvarez, Angel y Khriz, Lunay, they did an amazing job treating me no different than anybody else. It’s a dream come true to open up for big artists and continue this big journey that I’m on now. 

(HP) Growing up, we know that you learned how to play multiple instruments, such as the guiro, timbales, cuatro, congos, and more. Do you play your own instruments on your songs? Or do you have a hand in the production in any way?*

At the moment, no, but if I feel like we need to add an instrument, I'll have my producer, JB, I'll let him know like “man, I feel like if we add this instrument in there it’ll be perfect.” And he’s really good with that. I actually haven’t played myself, but when I was young I used to compete. I don’t know if you know trova, it’s like old school, like plena, stuff like that, I used to go to different towns in Puerto Rico and compete, and I still have a lot of trophies at home, first place. So, that’s something that I grew up with, with my family, always throwing parties, like I said, y’know, all my family are party people. My family is pretty big from my dad’s side, so every time it was one birthday party it’d turn into a huge party, having over fifty people coming by, always one of ‘em, “I got the güiro! I got the timbal! I got la conga! La tambora! La pandereta! La maraca!” So, y’know, I grew up with that environment, so I've always been into music since I was little, and I guess that’s what brought me more into the reggaeton scene, ‘cause I was never introduced to reggaeton.

(HP) Really? 

Yeah, my family, especially my dad was a bachatero, salsero, y’know. I was always into bachata, salsa, merengue, trova, so I was never introduced to reggaeton until I went to grammar school. Actually, one of my friends wanted my yo-yo, and he said “I'll trade you a CD” and I was like “Man, I can’t listen to reggaeton” and he said “You won’t regret it.” and, I guess he didn’t have the money then, so I actually exchanged the yo-yo for the CD. That was the best thing I ever did. Went home, played that CD, and to this day I love reggaeton.  

(HP) So what does your creative process look like? Can you walk us through that?* 

So, basically, what I do is, I like to be in the mood every day. Every day for me is a different mood. Mainly it’s all party. Sad, is rare. But I like to go out, like I explained, and I observe people. If I see somebody going through a sad moment it’ll stay in my head, and when I go to the studio, I think about the stuff that I just saw and I put it in a song. Like, if I see a girl dancing and enjoying her night, I make a song about that, because, my songs, I try to make it easy to relate to. People will be like “Man I just went through that last week” or “I just did this two days ago,” so all my songs have nothing to do with me. Everything that I see, I just put it in a song. So I try to relate it as much as I can to the people, and basically most of my songs are party because that’s what I usually do. I see a lot of people dancing at the party, and when I see y’know, a beautiful woman coming by and a gentleman trying to pursue her, now when I go to the studio,—it depends on the beat too, but when the beat comes on I start thinking like “Damn, this is what happened.” So I try to lay it down in the songs and it’s been pretty successful.

(HP) So the beat comes first in terms of the creative process? 

Yes.

(HP) And who did you say your producer was?* 

Jb The Philosophy.

(HP) You mentioned that you make party music, but who do you make music for?*

I make songs for everybody. A little bit more for the girls, because I love the girls. And there was a song that I actually made that was bachata, y’know, as I was going through some stuff. I don’t sing bachata but I’m open to anything. I've done bachata, merengue, and I'm actually working on a corrido. I got a lotta good surprises coming this year but, I was actually thinking about that person, and I did the song but never released it. And, y’know my manager, Ruby, was like “You need to release this song” and I was like “I don’t really like it” and she was like “Give it a try, give it a try, I'm telling you it’s really good, a lot of people can relate to it” and that’s been one of my most successful songs. It’s called “Abandonao.” I performed it live in LA. I actually did a live TV show called Mañana Latina and I performed bachata and it was amazing. That’s how I know I got a little bit of talent. I was stuck on reggaeton, but I'm trying to do everything, I'm open to anything, hip-hop, mainly it’s all Spanish, you know I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I talk some words, you know what I'm saying, but I'm mainly more Spanish, but I'm always open to any ideas, you know like I said I love helping out my community, if anybody comes up to me and they’re like “Can we do a song?” Of course. I know the way Chicago is right now. I try to help out the community, especially try to take these kids out these streets. I think that’s what actually took me out of the street, y’know? I was never a bad person but I think my focus got so stuck on the music that I never focused on the streets. My main focus was music, music. So if I feel like I can help a kid out, y’know, I'd love to do that. I love giving out to the community, if anybody ask me “Can you do this for me?” Of course. There was a kid that actually seen me on Instagram. He doesn’t know me and he’s a big fan of mine, and he’s like “Man, I wanna start doing music thanks to you.” I got happy about that and he became one of my fans. He tries to come to all my events that I do, festivals and stuff like that because he’s young, but it’s a big happiness in me knowing that I might change that kid’s life. 

(HP) So you have songs like “Throw It Back” which are in English and you have songs like “Bomper” which are in Spanish, how do you decide whether to use English or Spanish in a song?*

Well, actually, the song “Throw it Back” I was actually writing “Throw it Back” in Spanish, and I heard R3MY Gottablast sing it in English. And I was like, “What did you say?” And at first he didn’t want to do it but he’s a really good artist, he does his English stuff, and when I heard him I was like “You know what, we’re going to do this in English and Spanish.” So I told him, “You’re gonna hop on this track and we’re gonna make this happen,” and, y’know, we made a big hit.

(HP) You know, you mentioned that you met your idols, that you opened up for people that you looked up to. Who or what are your greatest influences when it comes to making music?*

My influences…man, pretty much everybody. Like, if I see the good in people, I like seeing people when they’re happy and stuff like that so, they influence me in anything. Like, you know, I don’t like that bad stuff, like when other people talk about guns and killing and stuff, I feel like when you do stuff like that you’re showing that to the kids and that stays stuck on them. So, stuff like that don’t attract me, but any good artist like Daddy Yankee, Arcángel, Don Omar, De La Ghetto, a lot of their songs is more like me, y’know, party. They don’t talk about a lotta like, killing stuff and all that. I don’t like that. 

(HP) Who are some artists or producers that you would love to collaborate with?*

Man, there’s a lot, y’know? Like to me, you know what, I'm really humble— any opportunity that comes to me I'm grateful for it. Like I'm not really picky. I wish I could do a song with everybody. To me, if I could be at the studio every single day—that’s what I love doing. But I actually never picked anybody ‘cause, like I said, I'm humble and anybody who comes my way I'm always gonna say yes. 

(HP) So you don’t have any dream artist that you’re like “Man, I would love to collaborate with them?” *

Right now, well, actually right now, I like Eladio Carrión, De La Ghetto, Arcángel. He was one of my idols, and it would be a dream come true for me to open up one of his concerts too, y’know? And I wanted to collab with Daddy Yankee cause I actually used to see Daddy Yankee before he even blew up, y’know, when I used to live in Puerto Rico. Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam were, like, my idols. Those were actually the first ones on my CD, they were the first ones I started listening to. I started following them and to see the way they blew up, to me it’ll be a big dream come true to do a collab. I know Daddy Yankee retired, but we still got Nicky Jam so, hopefully, hopefully…we’ll see. 

(HP) On May 30th, 2022, you attended a peace march against gun violence. I’m curious, how did you get involved with activism, and has that impacted your music in any way?* 

I actually did the peace march with my step-daughter, due to, y’know, the gun violence. My cousin ended up getting killed. He had a discussion with his landlord and the landlord came and shot him more than thirty times. And this system in Chicago is really broken, ‘cause they actually caught the guy, but due to him being in the military they gave him leniency. They let him go and right now he’s a fugitive. To this day they don’t know where he’s at. They don’t know nothing about the guy. So, that actually opened up my eyes more…there’s so many families. The way I used to see moms crying, y’know, brothers and sisters crying, for their loved ones, and cops don’t do nothing. They need to get a little bit better, helping out the community. ‘Cause I see that there’s so much crime, and, I'm sorry to say this, but if it would have been one of their partners getting shot within 24 hours they would have caught the person. There’s so many unsolved cases because they don’t take them seriously. That’s something that made me think a lot, because, like I said, they kill one of their partners in 24 hours they’d find out who did it. Why can’t they do the same thing for other families? So that’s what made me help out the community more and try to help these families. Me, my manager, and my step-daughter, we have walked miles, y’know, and they would be like “It’s too much, let’s just stop.” But, no, let’s keep on going. I feel the pain that they feel. And if I still gotta do it 20 years straight, then I'm gonna do it, y’know, help these people get justice. 

HP) My condolences to you and your family. Switching gears a bit, how has the rise of social media impacted your music or how you market it?*

To be honest, right now, it’s a game changer. It’s made it easy. Back in the day when I started, it was so hard because we had to knock on doors to show my talent to people. I had to walk around Humboldt Park, y’know, tryna give out CDs, and 90% of these people, they don’t want to hear what talent you got to bring to the table. Now, I just easily hit the share button and people are gonna get curious, “Oh, lemme see what he got.” That’s why a lot of talent has gone to waste because back in the day, the way social media was, it was not like now. Now it’s really easy. 

(HP) How would you say your music differs as an independent artist versus being in Los Perdios?*

It’s really different, because when I was in the group, we brought a different style, my cousin Glen Ortiz, he had more like house, y’know, Chicago-style house. My brother had the hip-hop, and I had the reggaeton. So instead of being reggaeton it was called Bailaton—they had the whole mixture of house, hip-hop, and reggaeton together. Yeah, so it was a new trend that we had, and it was going pretty good for us. Actually we're in a movie called Go For It! with Amy Garcia and Gina Rodriguez. But we were in different states and, due to that, unfortunately, we had to break the group. I stopped for a couple years, and I thought that I was done with the music. But thanks to my manager—a lot of people used to ask me “Oh, when are you coming back to the music?” I expressed to her that I used to do music back in the day, She used to record me and post me to social media and a lotta people used to say “Why is he not up there already?” and “He should start doing music again.” Y’know, she actually motivated me more to start doing music again but I gave her one ultimatum. I was like “If I’ma do this for real, I need you to be my manager.” Because she knows what I like and what I don’t like and she’s really strict— that’s what you need in this industry. And she likes everything perfect, so I think she’s the one that helped me. 

(HP) You mentioned that you took time off producing music, what did you do during that time?*

Vacations, a lot of vacations. Working a lot. But I would still go to parties, and they used to be like “Ay, Pucho, c’mon, hop on the mic!” And you know me, of course I love music, so I used to just do that just for fun. But I wasn’t taking it as seriously as I'm taking it now, and that’s pretty much what I did the entire time I was off. 

(HP) Did you also attend college during your time away from music?*

I actually went to college in Puerto Rico, I was gonna become a paramedic. 

(HP) Whoa, what happened?*

I needed two more weeks to graduate, but the music, the music. There was a big event in Santurce, and they asked me if I wanted to open up for Ñengo Flow and, of course, it’s the music in me, so I said “Of course, I'm down for it.”

(HP) That’s incredible. What advice do you have for young talent wanting to perform on bigger stages?*

Don’t give up. Don’t ever let nobody tell you no. Even if you’re starting out and you don’t have talent: trust me, the talent will come. People say dreams don’t come true, they do come true. Y’know, like I'm sitting here next to you in this interview so I'm telling you, dreams do come true. A lot of people when I was younger, they used to tell me “No.” And, sometimes I did wanna give up but, like I said, I was like “you know what I'm not gonna give up.” And it’s not only in the music industry. If you’re a barber and that’s what you wanna do, or if you wanna become a doctor, a cop—don’t give up on your dreams ever. Don’t ever let nobody tell you you can’t do it, because you can. 

What is up next for you? Do you have any new releases or other events on the horizon?*

(HP) I actually got a couple more festivals this year. Actually gonna have my concert on June 2nd, and it’s gonna be my release from a collab that I did with a group from LA called Fusión Latina. We actually were out there a couple weeks ago. We shot the video and we’re gonna release the video on June 2nd, so it’s pretty big. Oh, and the album too. Album coming soon. It’s pretty much 99% done.

(HP) Do you know when we should be expecting that album to be released or is that under wraps?*

It’s pretty soon, like within a couple months, probably even less. ‘Cause I love doing music so I might just do the rest of the songs I have to finish. Like I said, 99% of it is done. I’m really a perfectionist—I listen to songs over and over again, and if there’s some stuff I gotta change I'll change them, but pretty much we’re almost done with the album. And I got a lot of big artists in different states, y’know, collaborating with me, including Fusión Latina. 

(HP) What is the best way that people can keep up with you and your work?*

You can actually find me on all social medias. I’m on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, anywhere. And I made it pretty simple. It's all the same thing, you can find me as @Algarii_the1 on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, everywhere.