AlphaRome is an Inland Empire rapper who's starting to emerge into the Southern California rap scene. The life of Rodger Romeo Terrance Brewster began in 2000. He believes God sent rap to him to express the way he feels and how things should be. He began releasing music in 2018 and has a couple of singles out such as his newest single with CamWorldTour, Fendi Shades. AlphaRome can be seen at local open mics in Upland and Pomona with other indie artists striving to be like some of the Inland empire greats such as Hit-Boy, producer Nabeyin, Cam Archer, and Noa James.
Jay: When you began rapping, you used to go by Alphabet before Alpharome. What was the reason behind the name change?
AlphaRome: It was due to maturity, on God. But the backstory of it began in high school. I used to perform a lot for the halftime shows at my high school. One day, they put out a flyer of who was performing at one show, and instead of Alphabet, they put AlphaRome. It stuck after that.
Jay: You performed at the Mint Fire Music Festival out in Riverside, CA last month. Describe the atmosphere of performing with the other artists on the bill.
AlphaRome: It was definitely dope. One of the artists on the bill, Do.main invited me. I know of him through CamWORLDTOUR. Do.main asked if I can be part of the first opening set and I said "of course." For fifteen minutes, I did my thing and had a strong set. The love I received was pretty great and it was all love throughout the night from everyone there. The performers were heavily talented.
Jay: Your latest single is Fendi Shades with CamWORLDTOUR, who was also on the Mint Fire Music Festival card. What influenced the concept behind the Fendi Shades video?
What we did was we tried to do something in the shop, so they just asked if we can shoot our video in the shop. We wanted to have more people shaking ass and dancing around. The video coincided with what we were feeling and doing at the moment more than anything else.
Jay: Who are some of your influences?
AlphaRome: Michael Jackson, it went to Eminem for rap, Kendrick, Biggie, 2Pac, J. Cole, Chance The Rapper, Smino, J.I.D., Anderson .Paak
I did want to mention that I began rapping at twelve years old. I used to record my earlier singles on SoundCloud in the bathrooms and it wasn't the best quality. My boy Kevin aka Kaine, mentored me. Thanks to him, he helped me take music seriously. After school, I would do a lot of writing and find beats on YouTube to freestyle with.
Jay: I feel like any striving artist born after 1995 would go on YouTube to find beats to rip and freestyle to.
AlphaRome: On God. Freestyling with others is a way for me to find people to work with. To me, it's one of the easiest and funniest things to do. It's all about having fun and keeping your spirits up. When I first began making music, I used to struggle with recording a song. It would take me hours and hours to finish one song and punch in to record certain lines. Freestyling helped improve my ability to become a better songwriter.
Jay: Who are some indie artists that you would like to shout out?
AlphaRome: My cousin D'Angelo who goes by Parking, CamWORLDTOUR, DLo, Do.Main, LanccFromTheMob (MoneyMillions), and Love, Chuck. Shoutout to my boy Kendrick Lamar who's independent now.
Jay: What was the best no that you’ve ever received before and why?
AlphaRome: I was seven or eight when I was talking to my auntie one day. I wanted to be a singer growing up. My father was a preacher so we were in church often. So I kind of had to do everything to fill in. My older cousin D'Angelo was the singer. He can sing really well. Both of us did music but he overshadows me in the singing aspect. I wanted to ride with him as a singer, but my auntie one day called me his backup singer. That shit fucked me up.
It wasn't necessarily a no, but I felt belittled because I was called his backup singer. I switched up my path and pursued rap. Oddly enough, it went from me looking up to him, to him looking up to me. He wanted to be a rapper when I decided to go that route, and not to brag, but he couldn't rap like me. I also can't sing as great as him, so that moment really had us go in our own lanes and I'm grateful for that moment.
Follow AlphaRome on Instagram @rome2000_ and check out his music on all streaming platforms.
Written by: Jay Guevara. @justinhisprime on all social media.