Aaron Yepiz is standing tall, proud, or as they say in the barrio, firme.
Deep into rap and the hip-hop scene, the 27-year-old Barrio Centro resident is using the force and attraction of the urban street music to bring together people, to channel their energy and enthusiasm into positive vibes.
The music and its fans, he said, do not have to stoop to the stereotypes that hip-hop culture and its rap music have to be associated with trouble and violence.
“It don’t have to be like that,” he said while we talked at his family home near East 22nd Street and South Country Club Road. “It’s about being together, without the problems and competition. It doesn’t matter what side of town you’re from.”
For the past several years the hip-hop DJ and promoter, who goes by the name of El Aaron, and others in the local hip-hop scene, like Homegrown Promotions, have organized hip-hop unity barbecues at local parks. The last barbecue, held in April, featured multi-ethnic rappers and dancers, children’s activities, and attracted community nonprofit groups, like the Culture of Peace Alliance, and the Pima County Public Library.
Yepiz called it “a big family event.”
The family event included his mother, Luz Yepiz, who gave her approval of how the barbecues have been organized and turned out.
“I like the way they behave,” she said of the attendees, in Spanish.
While she grew up in Magdalena, Sonora, listening to rancheras and norteñas, her son’s preferred music of Tupac Shakur, Public Enemy, Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre is growing on her.
“I am beginning to like it,” she said.
While Aaron Yepiz is proud of the unity events, the hip-hop barbecues are secondary to more important accomplishments in his life, he said.
He has a 3-year-old boy and Yepiz has been sober for four years.
“My main goal is to be a positive role model for my son and the rap community,” said Yepiz, who works at a car wash on the northeast side of town.
It’s not been easy for Yepiz but his attitude is strong.
He grew up in the Millville neighborhood, near the intersection of East 22nd Street and South Park Avenue. He attended Borton Primary Magnet School but he didn’t finish high school.
By the time he was 15 years old, Yepiz got a job to help the family but he spent too much time partying with his South Park homeboys, “hanging out with the wrong crowd,” he said.
“I was taking everything for granted. I didn’t care about anything,” he said.
All he cared about was getting a paycheck, cashing it and getting wasted. But at the same time, he added, he knew to stay away from serious trouble, the kind of trouble that got some of his friends sent to prison.
But trouble came to him anyway.
When he was 22, his life seriously went sideways. He was loaded and driving. He crashed his car, into all places, a music studio.
Yepiz was charged with causing criminal damage. He faced the threat of a three-year prison sentence.
About the same time, he began to steer his young life straight, using hip-hop as an inspiration, a musical guide.
He had become a volunteer DJ with KXCI-FM, Tucson’s nonprofit community radio station, holding down a weekly, two-hour, middle-of-the-night show.
Yepiz found his hip-hop heaven. The show gave him his space to express himself, share his love of hip-hop, and give air time to local rappers like Sir Lance, Swindoe, Jae Tilt and Hazed Out.
“Tucson’s gotta represent,” he said.
Some of his biggest fans are in the Pima County jail. Inmates write him letters and he gives them shout outs over the air.
“I’m like their support system,” El Aaron said. “I take them away from reality for two hours.”
He’s expanded his hip-hop outreach to promoting local hip-hop dances, featuring local rappers. His goal is to do more promotions and produce local talent.
But he won’t be rapping any time soon.
“I used to like to rap but I realized I wasn’t very good.”
But bringing people together, urging unity, Yepiz is firme.
