Andy Mineo On Why Social Media Might Be ‘The Porn of 20 Years From Now’ from Relevant Magazine
“There’s a direct correlation between anxiety and depression and the rise of social media. The writing is on the wall in my opinion.”
Andy Mineo admits when he first started rapping, he was terrible. In high school and college, he ran an amateur studio out of his family’s apartment, mixing his own beats and producing his own songs. He was part of an untapped talent pool living in Syracuse, a stone’s throw from New York City but miles from its opportunities. To him, the city meant exposure, a chance at a real music career.
Mineo says trying to come up today is a whole other story. Amateur rap has moved out of the basement and into the bedroom, where kids are using their laptops to post bonkers-good tracks on Soundcloud and find fame before they can drive.
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It’s brought tons of names to the forefront of popular music, but Mineo says social media’s path to success invites unhealthy comparisons, so unhealthy in fact the medium could one day be seen as a health crisis. In an interview with RELEVANT for the Unedited podcast, Mineo shared his conflicting feelings on social media and how he engages with it as a public figure in light of its obvious benefits and hidden downsides.
RELEVANT: Tell me about growing up in Syracuse. What was life like for you as a kid?
Mineo: Syracuse is very mixed. I went to Henniger High School and I think I was the only white kid on my basketball team. It’s just an urban inner city and it has a lot of divides, but there’s a lot of creativity there because of the college and a lot of great artists who don’t have any outlets for their craft. There’s a lot of talent just sitting around that goes unrecognized. I knew when I graduated high school I was going straight to New York City. I wanted to take all that time and energy and those 10,000 hours and go to a place where there’s a little bit more opportunity.
