ACL Preview: That Mexican OT Mixes Charm and Ferocious Delivery
“Ain’t no Mexican like a Texas Mexican”
By Cy White, Fri., Oct. 4, 2024
Virgil René Gazca, known by his stage name That Mexican OT, is anything but the average “Mexican dude” he claims to be. His cadence is all Texas swag, a drawl that’s both unhurried and vicious when set loose on the right listener. His very quick rise to fame came compliments of another Texas boy: Houston legend Paul Wall. With viral track “Johnny Dang” – on which Wall featured, alongside OT’s close friend and regular collaborator DRODi – OT established himself as an MC to look out for.
Austin Chronicle: Your style is so reminiscent of the aggressive lyrical rappers that made up so much of the Nineties and early Aughts. Who inspired the aspects of your delivery?
That Mexican OT: The core artists that made me what I am: I feel like I got my swagger, my coolness from 50 [Cent]. My complexity, my flow, my delivery from Hopsin and Eminem, and then just being from Texas itself, which is a different swagger. Ain’t no Mexican like a Texas Mexican, you know? Mix all that together, that’s kind of what built that.
AC: Has it always been music for you? And what called you to hip-hop?
OT: It’s always been music for me. It’s like one of my children I cherish, and I love it. I was just a student of the game by no choice. My mother wanted me to do it. My cousins and my uncles were doing it. So, I was just born into it. It was in our closet, my cousin’s room. I just walked in and wanted to be cool like them, and I just started doing it.
AC: It’s beautiful that you get that support from your parents, because that’s not common.
OT: That is one thing that I really sat there and thought about a lot for a while, because, you know, I know people that do music and their parents, they’re like, “Nah, fuck no, you’re going to be an accountant,” or, “You’re going to take over the family business,” or whatever it is, right? So it was cool having my parents as fans of me at such a young age. I guess I never realized how fucking sick I was. I’m saying, I’m 8 years old, my nanny take me school shopping, and I got all the girls in the makeup aisle. I got a circle around me because I’m rapping. So it’s just always been there. It’s a blessing. It’s just always been something that I love and that I’ve been good at.
AC: Do you still have moments of self-doubt?
OT: All the time, all the time. I’m still insecure. I’m still hurt from scars that I haven’t gotten over, you know. I used to always have this insecurity of, like, “Damn, is it just going to go away just as fast, if not faster?” But then I write another song, and I’m like, “Oh no, that’s 10 more years right there!”
AC: So now that you’re learning more about who you are as an artist, in this moment, who is That Mexican OT?
OT: Just another Mexican dude. It ain’t nothing crazy, just another Mexican in Texas. Just another one in line.
AC: It’s wonderful that you have an outlet like music.
OT: Man, it is a blessing, bro. I thank God for it. Every day I cherish it. That’s why I go hard. And sometimes when I don’t want to fucking do it, I do it because I could be serving you your french fries right now. Not that that’s bad at all, but it’s just not for me. I remember my family wanted me to go work in the plants, because where I’m from, if you made it in the plants and you working there, oh, you made it in life! But, bro, I’m not swinging no fucking hammer all day. I’m not being told what to do while it’s 105 degrees. It’s too hot for you to be talkin’ to me like that. I’ll slap the shit out of you. I’m not good with having bosses. I suck at following rules. So it make me even more grateful that, like, “Damn, I’m happy I got this music because it’s for me. It’s what I enjoy.” Not everybody gets to do what they enjoy. ...
Now I feel like my music is more playful. I say funny shit, you know. It’s more of entertainment. I feel like back then, when I was really taking this serious, I was hurt, so I would put a lot of my emotions in the songs. I was also real-life thugging. So like, I was talking about some gangster shit. I feel like I don’t even be talking about gangster shit no more. I feel like my music is just feel-good music. I want you to feel good from it.
Sunday 6 & 13, 5:45pm, T-Mobile Stage
